Victory High
by Blazikid
Summary: Follow the story of Daniel Elyses, a 17 year-old Pokemon Trainer as he begins his final years of school in the prestigious Victory High Academy. Schoolwork, Pokemon battles, and hormones collide!
1. Chapter 1 - Welcome to Victory High

Daniel adjusted his goggles for the fifth time in the last ten minutes, wishing he had tightened them properly before he left. Considering the sixteen-year old was currently on the back of an orange blur moving half the speed of sound, not tightening his goggles properly was definitely a stupid idea, but he was at least glad that he wasn't the one flying the Dragonite. His cousin was sitting directly in front of him, hands situated at the base of the Dragon's neck and brow furrowed in concentration. It took a lot of focus to pilot a dragon that could move at Mach speeds, but Daniel's cousin could manage it considering it was his job. The sun directly overhead shone on the sapphire sea below, sending motes of light dancing into the air.

Suddenly, Daniel's cousin turned his head slightly, and said something that was quickly torn away by the wind. Daniel saw what his cousin no doubt wanted to tell him about. Rapidly approaching the two was an island, and Daniel's destination. On the island was Victory High Academy, or as it was more commonly known, 'VHA' or 'Victory High'. Pompous name aside, Victory High was a prestigious school for some 900 or so talented Pokemon trainers. Daniel had somehow been accepted on a scholarship, but had to miss the transport provided because of a family matter. His cousin had agreed to drop him off personally, but he had still missed the orientation by a day. Daniel ran a hand through his light purple hair out of habit, glad he had dyed it the day before. He wouldn't have to worry about his brown roots showing for at least another month.

The Dragonite began to slow down as they got nearer. Daniel winced as he felt a twinge of pain, but it passed the second they began to fly over the land. Looking at the landscape below, Daniel saw grassy plains, a forest, and even a mountain in the distance. And nearing them was the main campus. Buildings of varying sizes dotted themselves around a large central building, which was where Daniel was headed. He spotted a large stadium, as well as an outdoor pool, and a large running track next to a field surrounding by a steel fence.

The Dragonite dipped and slowed until it was going merely a fraction of its previous speed, flying right above the ground. Daniel's cousin turned his head again, and shouted, "Okay, get ready to drop!" Daniel nodded, and his cousin grinned. "Stop frowning, you'll be fine! It's a new school; you'll make friends in no time! And don't you dare forget to write to us!" Daniel forced a smile, unaware he had been frowning. His cousin simply grinned wider. "There we go! Now get ready! Three… Two…"

On 'drop', Daniel jumped from the back of the dragon. He landed, and immediately moved into a roll, rolling his elbow and shoulder into it and tucking his head to his other shoulder. He allowed his momentum to carry him over his back until his feet landed and he stood up. Daniel waved at his cousin as he sped away, before looking around at his surroundings. He had landed in a courtyard some distance away from the large buildings, and a few students who were milling around were giving him odd looks. Damian frowned, and tugged his scarf up higher on his face. Daniel reached inside his dark purple jacket, and grabbed the Pokeball inside. Pulling it out, Daniel expanded it and tossed it into the air, releasing the inhabitant in a flash of red light.

As Daniel caught the Pokeball and placed it in his pocket again, the light materialized into a small, purple bat, with large ears and bright yellow eyes. The Noibat blinked in the light, and looked up the boy. The bat smiled, and flapped its wings, flying up to Daniel's shoulder where it nuzzled into his cheek. Daniel grinned, and scratched the bat under its chin, cooing, "Hey Fidget." He looked around, and muttered, "Let's see where we need to go, shall we?"

After some asking around and receiving some very unhelpful answers, Daniel was finally directed to a small wooden building where the main admin supposedly was. Skeptical that the main admin of the school would be in such a quaint building, Daniel nevertheless walked up to the front door, and listened. He heard talking through the door, which fell silent when he knocked. There were footsteps, and the door opened to reveal a man with the most impressive mustache Daniel had ever seen, and a far more modern room than Daniel had expected behind him. "Yes?" he asked, frowning at the purple haired boy.

Realizing with a start that he was still wearing his goggles, Daniel lifted them, and replied, "My name's Daniel Elyses, I'm a new student here. I missed the Orientation, but I was told to come to the admin building?" The man looked Daniel up and down, regarding his scarf, leather jacket and faded jeans with a mix of distaste and curiosity.

"Do you have your letter?" he asked. Daniel nodded, and began to search through his pockets, finally pulling out a crumpled piece of paper from his back jeans pocket. The man looked over the letter, and nodded. "Very well. Wait by the tree over there, and I'll send a student to show you to your dorm." The man nodded in the direction of a tree not too far away, before closing the door. Daniel shared a look with Fidget, before turning and walking over to the tree.

Daniel looked at the tree, and judged how far the branches were off the ground. It was decently sized, with a thick trunk and branches large enough to support his weight. He ran, and stepped up the trunk of the tree, leaping off and wrapping his hands around one of the branches. Daniel hung there for a moment, as Fidget clambered up one of his arms and onto the branch. Pulling himself up, Daniel swung his leg over, and sat back, leaning against the trunk.

Fidget hopped over and curled up into Daniel's lap. Scratching the Noibat behind its large ears, he looked out at the campus around him. Now that he had more time to look, he noticed that the large building in the center of the campus was roughly six or seven stories high. Whilst not terribly big in the scheme of things, it was still larger than any of the buildings in his home village. Surrounding the building was all sorts of smaller buildings, which he assumed to be the location for shops on campus, and some smaller classrooms. The stadium-like building was slightly smaller than the main building, and was situated further away. There were also multiple two or three story-high buildings in the other direction, but he was unsure as to what those were.

A voice from below caused Fidget to start awake, and Daniel looked below him to see a boy with blonde hair looking up at him. "Hello up there!" the boy called. "You wouldn't happen to be Daniel, would you?" Daniel felt a warm, friendly feeling emanating from the boy, and guessed this was the student sent to collect him.

Rather than replying right away, Daniel instead shifted Fidget off his lap, and moved so that he was sitting with his legs dangling off one side. He lowered himself off the branch before he dropped in front of the boy, crouching to absorb the impact. Daniel stood up, and Fidget flapped down to land on his shoulder. "That's me," he replied, looking at the boy. The boy was maybe two or so years older than Daniel, and was wearing a white polo shirt with an orange trim and collar, with the school's shield-shaped crest on the left hand side. Four blue Chevrons stood proudly on his left shoulder, and beneath the school crest were two slightly zig-zagged marks meeting on a black triangle. Daniel decided not to ask about either marking.

The boy grinned at Daniel, and said. "Fantastic. The name's Cody, I've been sent to show you to your dorm. Your stuff arrived yesterday, so all you need to do is unpack." With that, Cody turned and began to walk off, Daniel following beside him. As they walked, Cody said, "So, Daniel. Where are you from?"

Daniel tore his eyes away from a flock of Fletchinder and Fletchling overhead and turned to look at Cody. "Sinnoh," he replied. Cody nodded.

"I thought so. You're pale enough for it," he replied. "I'm guessing you travel a lot though?"

Daniel's eyes widened. "Y-yeah. How'd you know?" he stammered. Cody grinned mischievously.

"I'm psychic," he said, "So I can see aaaaaanything going on in your head." Cody made an 'ooh' noise and waved his hands mysteriously, before giggling and continuing, "Except not really. I just took a guess. Your accent isn't like any Sinnoh accent I've heard before, and I know for a fact that that isn't a Sinnoh native." Cody motioned in Fidget's direction, who chittered back at him.

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, my dad's a reporter, so he goes everywhere. He usually takes me or one or two of my brothers on trips with him. I picked Fidget up when dad took me to Kalos for an interview with one of the Elite Four. We've basically been inseparable ever since," he explained.

Cody nodded thoughtfully. "You two do seem very close. My Umbreon and I are really close too, so it always makes me feel happy to see trainers have close bonds with their Pokemon." Cody looked up, and added, "We're here." Looking up, Daniel saw two buildings, roughly four stories tall, standing with their inner corners almost touching. A gated archway connected the two, but Daniel couldn't make out the words on the archway.

The two boys walked through the gate, and Daniel couldn't help but whistle. The two buildings were connected to a third, forming a triangular courtyard. Benches surrounded trees dotted around the courtyards, with the only garden beds containing sturdy bushes, and very few flowers. A large statue stood proudly in front of each building, and in the very center of the courtyard was a smaller statue on a swirly stone pillar. Boys milled about the courtyard, talking with each other or simply hanging out. A particularly boisterous basketball game was taking place on the court in front of one of the buildings, and Daniel noticed that humans and Pokemon alike were participating.

Cody led him through the center of the courtyard, waving at a few boys who passed by. The two passed by the statue in the center, allowing Daniel to get a closer look. The creature had two small wings, and a fluffy tail. It had a large, V-shaped crest on its forehead, and one of its hands was outstretched in a 'victory' gesture. Daniel recognized the creature; it was a legendary Pokemon known as Victini, and it was the school's mascot. The 'V' on its forehead was the very same as the 'V' in the middle of the shield that made up the crest.

They passed by the statue, and arrived in front of the building furthest from the gate. The statue in front of this building was of a quadrupedal Pokemon, with two zig-zagging horns coming off its head. It had a stern look on its face, and what seemed to be whiskers. A plaque at the bottom gave the name of the Pokemon, and Daniel frowned, trying to make it out. "Co… Ba… Lin?" he said, looking at Cody.

"Close," the boy replied. "It's actually Cobalion. He's one of the Three Legendary Musketeers, and this dorm's named after him. Your room's on the second floor, if you'll follow me." Cody set off again, and Daniel followed.

As they entered the building, Daniel asked, " _This_ dorm?"

"Yep! Both the guys and the girls who go here are split into three dorms: Terakion, Virizion, and of course, Cobalion." Cody winked at Daniel, and added, "That's the best one."

"So, is there a competition between the dorms, like that one book?"

Cody shrugged. "Kinda. Not to that extent, though. We're mainly just split up for admin's sake and for boarding purposes, but we do have occasional competitions between the dorms. It can be boys versus girls, or Cobalion versus Terakion versus Virizion, or even a mix. Last year there was a Capture the Flag match between Virizion and Cobalion Girls, and Terakion and Cobalion boys. This year I'm the prefect for Cobalion Boys. That's what this means." Cody pointed at the markings beneath the crest on his shirt, and Daniel nodded in understanding.

As they arrived on the floor, Cody murmured, "Now then, you're Room… 207! Which is…" The two walked through the hall for a bit, looking at the doors on either side of them. Cody stopped in front of a door, and triumphantly said, "This one!" Cody fished around in his pocket, before retrieving a key, which he handed to Daniel. Clearing his throat, he began to speak as if rehearsed, "Don't lose this. You and your roommate are the only ones who have these keys, and if you lose it, you'll have to get them or one of the prefects to open the door for you. There's a toilet and shower in a little bathroom in there, and fresh towels and stuff are provided daily. Your luggage is already inside, so you only need to unpack." Cody smiled, and added, "Welcome, by the way. You two are going to love it here, I just know it." Patting Daniel on the shoulder and scratching Fidget's head, the older boy proceeded to walk down the hall, and out of sight.

Turning, Daniel regarded the door with apprehension. Fidget sensed his trainer's nervousness, and nuzzled into his cheek to comfort him. Daniel smiled slightly, and scratched the bat under its chin. He sighed, and then placed his key in the door. Twisting the key and the doorknob, Daniel opened the door to his new home.


	2. Chapter 2 - Adrian and Twitch

Daniel opened the door to the sounds of muffled swearing, and the smell of ozone. Frowning, Daniel opened the door wider and walked through. There was a door immediately to his left which he assumed was the bathroom, but he disregarded it as he continued into the room. Daniel stopped as he finally got a look at the room itself, the door slowly swinging shut behind him. On the left side of the room was a plain bed, with Daniel's moderately sized duffel bag on top of it. On the right side of the room was an incredibly messy bed, with wires and two pieces of timber strewn on top of it. In the wall across from the foot of each bed was what he guessed to be built-in cupboards. The walls on this side of the room had posters of old movies pinned to it, but what Daniel was really focusing on was at the foot of the bed.

Crammed between the bed and the wall was a desk that seemed to be just too big. The reason for this was probably because it was in fact two desks crammed together, with the sides that would normally be touching each other removed. One door of the cupboard was blocked by the desk, leaving only one functioning door. Daniel suddenly knew where the timber on the bed had come from. On top of the Frankenstein desk were two computer monitors and a small toolkit. Beneath the desk was a large rectangular box that Daniel guessed was the computer itself, and the back end of a teenager. Both the swearing and the ozone seemed to be coming from under the desk, but Daniel hoped the teenager wasn't the one making the smell.

Suddenly, there was a flash of orange and blue, and Daniel and Fidget found themselves face-to-face with an impish grin. The grin was attached to an orange creature, about a foot tall, with blue arms shaped like lightning bolts. The creature was the source of the ozone smell, causing Daniel to guess that it was at least part Electric-type. He had never seen this particular Pokemon before, so he didn't know much else about it.

Suddenly, the Pokemon disappeared, and in its place was a closed orange and blue flip-phone, with the Pokemon's surprised face on the outer screen. Daniel blinked, and the flip-phone disappeared in a flash of red light. Daniel looked to where the light went, and saw a brown-haired teenager holding an outstretched Pokeball. The teenager glared at the ball, before tossing it onto the bed, muttering, "Now think about what you've done." The teenager huffed, and looked back to discover he wasn't alone. The two teenagers stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do. Fidget broke the silence by leaping off Daniel's shoulder and fluttering over to the other boy's bed, regarding the Pokeball with curiosity. The boy brushed one of his bangs away, and muttered, "Sorry about that. Twitch thought it would be a great idea to possess and unplug the computer I spent all of today setting up. I didn't find it funny." He fidgeted with one of his black wristbands, and looked away.

Daniel tried a grin. "I could tell," he joked. The boy smiled back, before turning on his heel and walking over to the computer. Ducking under the desk, he began to mess around with the large box. Daniel frowned, but decided to unpack rather than call the boy out for his rudeness. Unzipping his duffel bag, Daniel began to remove and set aside the different clothes and possessions he had brought. "Daniel," he said over his shoulder.

"Huh?"

"Daniel Elyses. My name?"

"Oh, right. Adrian Turing." Daniel nodded, and continued to empty his bad. Fidget chirruped on Adrian's bed, before flapping over to nestle into the pile of neatly folded clothes Daniel had just finished pulling out, causing him to huff. Shaking his head, Daniel pulled the bag off the bed and shoved it beneath. Deciding not to disturb the bat by attempting to put his clothes away, he instead just turned and sat, looking at Adrian and his setup. The boy felt odd to be around. He emanated energy, but it was unlike anything Daniel had really felt before. The energy sent a tingle running down his back, but not an unpleasant one.

"Where're you from?" Daniel asked, wishing to know more about this strange boy.

"Lumiose," was the muffled reply. "You?"

"Sinnoh." Adrian pulled his head out from under his desk, and looked at Daniel.

"Really? That's where I got Twitch. What city?" Daniel looked away, somewhat embarrassed.

"It's not really a city. I wouldn't even call it a town…" Daniel looked back to see one of Adrian's eyebrows dangerously close to joining his hairline. Chuckling at Adrian's quizzical look, Daniel continued, "It's this village on Mount Coronet, nearish to Celestic Town."

"Neat." Adrian looked back at his computer, and sighed. "Well, Twitch has gone and messed everything up. It's going to take me at least another hour to reconnect everything and make sure he hasn't fried the motherboard. Xerneas knows the little jerk has done it in the past," he grumbled. Shaking his head, he continued, "But I've been at this all day, and I need some fresh air. You just got here, right?" Daniel nodded. "Well, why don't I show you around? We're gonna be roommates, so we might as well get to know each other."

Daniel smiled at this. "Sure thing."

A little while later and the two were walking down a road that would take them past the sports fields and towards the stadium building. Fidget had elected to stay curled up on Daniel's bed, and Adrian was still mad at Twitch. The sun was beginning to paint the sky shades of red and orange, but it wouldn't get dark for at least another hour. "So you said you were from a village near Celestic Town, right? What's the internet and stuff like there?" Adrian asked.

Shrugging, Daniel replied, "Nonexistent? Celestic Town is really old fashioned, and the closest thing my village has to a computer is a public videophone that connects to Celestic's Pokemon center."

Adrian grimaced. "But like, what do you _do_? For fun and stuff?" he asked, crossing his arms and shuddering.

"A lot of athletic stuff," he answered. "You know, running, climbing stuff, sparring."

"Sparring?"

"Yeah. I have six older brothers, four of which are able to fight and don't live overseas. It's our way of not being bored."

"But how did you take the entrance exam?" Daniel thought back on the exam that was necessary to apply to the school. The exam consisted of a hundred questions, and a few battle simulations. It was entirely online, and had to be taken at a Pokemon center to ensure there wasn't any cheating.

"My dad flew me to Jubilife, I think," Daniel replied. Adrian lifted his eyebrow quizzically.

"You think."

"I don't remember much of the exam, to be honest. I'm not fantastic at tests."

Adrian chuckled. "You must've done well to be accepted here."

Daniel grinned, and replied, "I guess." A loud roar interrupted the teenagers' conversation, and they turned their heads to see that they had arrived at the stadium.

"Sounds like a battle's about to go down," Adrian remarked. "Wanna go watch?" Daniel nodded, and the two entered the building. After walking through a few halls, the two arrived at the base of some stands, and Daniel realized the stadium was, in fact, a giant Pokemon arena. A few students were milling about in the stands, and on the field was a boy a year older than Daniel, and an adult. In front of the boy stood a large Pokemon that made Daniel think of pine trees. Covered in snow save for its hands and feet, Daniel vaguely recognized as an Abomasomething. However, the Pokemon in front of the man was one Daniel recognized instantly.

The Pokemon was mainly green, but had a pair of red-lined wings that beat rapidly, causing a faint hum to echo over the field. Its tail was striped and ended in a fan made up of three diamond-shaped scales. It had two long antennae, and its eyes were covered by red bubbles, seemingly part of its head. The Flygon hovered majestically over the field, and Daniel smiled at the familiar shape.

A quick glance at Adrian showed that he was instead frowning. "Seems like a student's challenging a teacher," he said. Daniel blinked in surprise.

"That's a thing you can do?" he asked.

"Yup. It's gonna be over quickly, though. Flygon has a quad weakness to Abomasnow." Daniel shook his head.

"Not particularly. If the teacher knows what he's doing, then Flygon could easily take down Abomasnow." Adrian looked at Daniel, and he explained, "My third eldest brother has a Flygon. He's in a wheelchair most of the time and works as a Graphic Designer in Lumiose, so I don't get to see him battle much, but I've seen enough for me to know that weaknesses aren't everything. Besides," Daniel winked conspiratorially, "If I'm right, Flygon's not the only one with a quad weakness."

The two boys sat down on a nearby bench, and watched as the student finished what seemed to be some sort of monologue. Looking at his watch, the teacher commented, "If you're finished, I believe you challenged me to a battle?"

The student frowned, and shouted back, "Damn right! I've trained since last time, and I know you and your dragon's tricks! I've even picked up someone to finish you off easily! This battle will be over in under five minutes!"

The teacher smirked. "Very well. I'll hold you to that. Let this one-on-one battle begin!" The teacher lifted his hand, and a siren sounded. A shimmering wall appeared out of nowhere between the stands and the field, but vanished just as suddenly. The Abomasnow roared, and the temperature in the field dropped, as hail began to drop from the sky above the field. Strangely, the hail didn't come close to the stands, as the second it came near it bounced away. Adrian nodded thoughtfully.

"Crowd protection fields, nice. That sort of technology is usually only found in major stadiums. Victory High must have some serious cash," he remarked.

"They own an entire island," Daniel replied.

"Touché."

There was a roar again, and Daniel and Adrian turned to see the Abomasnow lunge for the Flygon, its fist covered in a frosty aura. The Flygon darted out of the way, and smacked the other Pokemon across the face with its tail. Annoyed, Abomasnow attempted to snatch the offending limb, but the Flygon flew higher before it could grab on. The student roared, "Hit the damn thing with Razor Leaf!" Abomasnow complied, shaking violently and sending crescents of leaves flying at the Flygon.

"Dragonbreath," the teacher responded. Flygon cried out, and a stream of purple flames roared from its open maw, incinerating every leaf before they could hit the dragon. A chunk of ice dropped on the Pokemon's head as it finished, and it shook its head, annoyed.

The student stomped his foot. "That's it! Time to finish you! Abomasnow, Ice Beam!" he commanded. Abomasnow steadied itself, before letting out a mighty roar. A beam of icy-blue energy rocketed from Abomasnow's open mouth, and hit Flygon before it could run. The dragon-type was covered in flames the same colour as the beam, and a scream of pain echoed around the field. "Alriiight!" the student shouted, pumping the air.

Adrian grimaced. "Ouch. Flygon's down and out already," he muttered. Daniel shook his head.

"I wouldn't count her out yet," Daniel replied. Indeed, as the oddly-coloured fire cleared, Flygon was revealed to still be conscious, albeit incredibly furious.

"Wha- but how!?" the student cried. The teacher huffed.

"If you had been paying attention in my class," he grumbled, "You would know about the Yache Berry. It reduces the effectiveness of Ice-type moves, and is very helpful to Pokemon such as Flygon. Now then…" The teacher allowed a smile to come to his face. "Time to finish you. Sandstorm." Flygon howled, and began to beat its wings furiously. The hail was blown away, and began to be replaced by dust and sand that fell from the Dragon's wings and came from the arena floor. "Dragon Claw," the teacher continued, speaking as if he was simply reading from a list. Flygon disappeared, and Abomasnow looked around in fear, squinting at the sand that blinded it and stung its body.

There was a flash, and Abomasnow roared in pain, three claw marks appearing on its arm. The speedy figure of Flygon flashed by three more times, leaving fresh claw marks each time. Finally, Abomasnow caught Flygon's tail, stopping it from flying away. The teacher's smile didn't falter, and he simply stated, "Flamethrower." Both the Abomasnow and his trainer realized their mistake at the same time as Flygon opened its mouth. However, their realization came too late as Flygon roared, bathing Abomasnow in bright orange flames. Abomasnow cried out in pain, and then fell silent.

The sandstorm died down and the smoke cleared to reveal Abomasnow lying on the floor, unconscious. Flygon flew back to its trainer, and nuzzled against him, allowing the teacher to scratch her under her chin. The student merely recalled his Abomasnow, despondent. As he began to walk off the field, the teacher called out, "Don't leave just yet."

The student stopped, and looked at the teacher, who continued, "You had some good ideas. Picking an Ice type to take advantage of Flygon's quad weakness was a brilliant idea, but there were better choices than Abomasnow available, especially considering Abomasnow's own quad weakness. You can also never be too sure of a Pokemon's held item. As you saw, giving a Pokemon an item such as a Yache Berry can mean the difference between winning and losing. Other items that boost particular attributes may also be used, but the point remains the same. A strategy you might use to get around this may be to use Blizzard. In a Hailstorm it's guaranteed to hit, and Flygon would have eaten the Yache Berry to protect itself. You could have then used Ice Beam to finish her off."

The teacher smiled, and finished, "You are skilled, so don't worry about that. You're only in your second year here, and I can already tell you have great talent. One day you may be able to defeat me, but until then, try to pick your fights better." The teacher looked around at all of the students who had stopped to watch. Breathing in deeply, he boomed, "Class dismissed!"


	3. Chapter 3 - The Challenge

Students began to get up from the stands following the end of the surprisingly short battle. Adrian and Daniel stood up, and began to leave. "That was so cool!" Adrian said, his eyes lit up with excitement. Daniel couldn't help but laugh at the teenager's antics.

"Wasn't it?" As the two walked out of the arena, Daniel noticed that Adrian had changed. The energy he had felt emanating the boy earlier had grown, and now the hairs on Daniel's arms were standing on end beneath his jacket. "You really enjoyed it, didn't you?"

Adrian nodded, not even looking at Daniel at this point. His hands were clenched into fists and a smile was plastered onto his face. "That was just amazing! The way that Flygon took that Ice Beam and proceeded to beat that Abomasnow? It was fantastic! And how it carried itself, like it was some sort of king-"

"Queen," Daniel corrected. Adrian halted mid-gush, and looked at Daniel. "That Flygon was female," he elaborated.

"How could you tell?" Adrian asked, making Daniel shrug.

"I dunno. I've just developed the knack of telling the differences between Pokemon, like gender or whatever. My brother has a Flygon so that's probably why." Adrian nodded thoughtfully, absentmindedly brushing a bang away from his face that fell during his excitement.

"Neat." Adrian suddenly shivered, and looked around. Whilst inside the arena, dusk had continued to fall, and now the sun was approaching the horizon, bringing with it a cool night. Adrian didn't say anything, but Daniel nevertheless took off his jacket, and offered it to the boy. The brown-haired teen looked at the jacket, surprised. "Won't you be cold?" he asked.

Shaking his head, Daniel replied, "Nah. I grew up in Northern Sinnoh, remember? It snows, like, seven months of the year, and we consider that a heatwave. This is nothing." Adrian hesitated, but after he shivered again, he gave in and accepted the jacket.

Adrian whistled as he slid it on. "This is _nice_. Is this Bouffalant?"

The purple-haired boy had to think for a bit. "Garchomp, I think."

The other boy's eyes widened. "Seriously?! This is real Dragon skin?" Adrian gawked at the dark purple jacket, awestruck.

"Yeah. There's a cave full of Dragons near our village, and we believe in recycling the gifts the earth presents us. A Garchomp died of old age a few years ago, and their scales are great for cutting through wind resistance, so…" Daniel tightened his scarf awkwardly, realizing that Adrian was staring at him.

"That's… Kinda weird." He looked at the jacket again, as if he was unsure if he still wanted to wear it. A breeze reminded Adrian of why he was wearing the jacket, and he shrugged. "Whatever you believe in, I guess. I believe that a giant deer sleeps in a dead tree to keep the letter 'Y' from wrecking everything, so I guess I can't judge," Adrian joked, and the boys both laughed, glad the awkward silence had been broken.

The two walked for a while longer, before deciding to head back to their dorm. The first dinner for newcomers was an hour away, and they needed to get ready for it. As they got closer to the dorms, they passed by a few students who were either heading to the dinner hall, heading back to the dorms themselves, or just going to wherever. Daniel didn't pay any of them mind, until one of them with a stupid haircut forcibly bumped Adrian as he walked past, sniggering. Adrian fell backwards, and the boy just said, "Sorry," in the most mocking voice possible.

Adrian was going to ignore it, getting up and dusting himself off, but Daniel stepped forward. "Hey, what was that for?" he demanded. The other boy stopped, and turned to face Daniel, an arrogant smirk on his face.

Adrian got to his feet, and muttered through his teeth, "Daniel, what are you doing?"

"The dude just shoulder-checked you, Adrian!"

"It's fine, seriously. Just drop it…" Adrian looked uncomfortable, and Daniel's frown deepened.

Before Daniel could say anything, the boy that had slammed into Adrian spoke, "Well well, Adrian. Funny seeing you here."

Adrian sighed. "What do you want Ian?"

The boy, Ian, grinned. "Nothing! I just wanted to know how my old school pal was doing," he mocked, making Daniel glare at him. The feeling Daniel was getting from Ian's was similar to the one he got from Adrian, except where Adrian's energized Daniel, Ian's just made Daniel want to scrub himself clean. The boy wasn't done yet, though, as he shifted his eyes to Daniel. "And I see you've already met someone. A boyfriend already? I'm impressed."

Adrian spluttered. "What? Boyfriend? No, Daniel's not my boyfriend he's just my ro-"

"So what if I am?" Daniel challenged. Adrian stared at him, and Ian smirked.

"Nothing at all. I'm just amazed this loser managed to get here. You need to be in the top 90% to be accepted, after all. No doubt he resorted to other measures…" Ian's friends snickered, and Daniel felt something inside him snap.

Rather than attacking the boy, Daniel instead returned his smirk, and retorted, "That's actually pretty amazing." Daniel turned his head to look at a shocked Adrian, and said, "You never told me you met a talking Garbodor."

This had the desired effect. Ian's smirk vanished, and he demanded, "Do you know who I am?!"

Daniel met Ian's brown eyes, and his own blue eyes flashed. "A spoiled brat whose parents no doubt paid his way onto the island?" The silence that followed was deafening. Ian's mouth gaped like a stunned Magikarp, and Daniel mockingly asked, "Am I close?"

One of Ian's friends finally broke the silence, stepping forward and saying, "This right 'ere's Ian König! 'Is pa runs the König Bank in Lumiose!"

"Can't say I've 'eard of 'im," Daniel retorted. Ian's stunned look was replaced with one of anger, before shifting back to his arrogant smirk.

"Then I'll make sure you remember it, won't I? Meet me in the arena at midnight. Bring your Pokemon. Unless, of course, you're too scared?" Ian offered.

Daniel stood his ground, replying "You're on."

Smirking, Ian turned around, and walked away, his cronies following. "See you there!" he called over his shoulder. Daniel and Adrian watched him go, before they turned, and continued walking back to the dorms.

"Dude…" Adrian muttered. "What WAS that?"

"I have no idea," Daniel replied, before looking at one of his hands. "I'm shaking a lot, though. I don't think it's anger. Probably shock. Definitely shock. I might need to sit down. Or lie down. Either works."

"Well, are you gonna do it?"

"Huh?"

"Accept his challenge!"

"Can't back down now, can I?"

"But you could get in trouble!"

"Your point? Besides, he made fun of you, and he's obviously bullied you in the past. I can't let that go without trying to do anything about it."

Adrian sighed. "I guess I'll have to go with you, then. You can have Twitch if it comes to it. I trust you," he said. Daniel looked at the boy in surprise, and Adrian grinned. "You're my friend, right? As cheesy as it sounds, that's what friends do." Adrian patted Daniel on the shoulder. "Now come on, we've got a dinner and a battle to get ready for."

The evening sped by, and before Daniel realized it, it had become 11:25. He couldn't even remember the dinner properly, as he had been psyching himself up for the battle. Some teacher – the Assistant Principal, he was pretty sure – made some inspiring speech about the school's motto and how students should want to be the very best or something like that, but no-one was really listening.

According to the Assistant Principal and the Dorm prefects, classes started tomorrow, but they'd be slow for a week or so to ease students into it. Daniel was glad, because he knew he wasn't going to get a lot of sleep that night. Daniel lay under his covers, fully dressed in his jeans and jacket, pretending to be asleep. Adrian's watched beeped at 11:30 sharp, and was quickly silenced. Daniel and Adrian threw their covers back in unison, and quickly got out of bed. Adrian was dressed in an orange hoodie with Twitch's face on the front, and when Daniel first saw it, he thought the Pokemon was inside the hoodie. Adrian had to explain that Twitch, as a Rotom – which was apparently what its species was called – could only possess appliances, such as Adrian's computer or phone. A few appliances even change its form to the point of altering its Electric-Ghost typing, which Daniel thought was fairly neat. As it was, the two boys had decided to keep Fidget and Twitch in their Pokeballs to lessen their risk of being seen.

The two nodded, and silently crept to the door. Daniel had originally wanted to go out the window, but whilst it provided an admittedly breathtaking view of the forest and mountain behind the dorms, it was too unsafe to descend from for Adrian. The two decided they'd exit the normal way, but they had to be very careful.

Everything was running smoothly as they exited the building and rushed across the courtyard, staying out of the moonlight and keeping to the trees. When they reached the gate, however, Adrian asked, "How're we gonna get over?"

Daniel paused, realizing that they hadn't thought of this. The gate was locked, and would probably make a squeaking noise anyway. The top wasn't spiked though, which gave Daniel an idea. Kneeling, Daniel cupped his hands, and whispered, "Here, I'll give you a boost. Just drop down the other side" Adrian stepped onto the teenager's hand, and Daniel lifted the surprisingly light boy, who grabbed the top of the gate and dragged the rest of his body up, before dropping down the other side with a soft 'ow'. Adrian turned, but before he could ask how Daniel was going to get over, Daniel ran at the wall to the side of the gate. Like he had done with the tree earlier that day, he stepped up it twice, before he pushed off it, twisting, and grabbing the gate with a slight clatter. Both boys flinched, but no-one immediately responded, so Daniel dragged himself up and over. Adrian looked at him.

"How the he-"

"Lots of free time, remember? Parkour is great exercise."

Frowning, Adrian muttered, "Showoff." The two then set off at a jog, wanting to get to the arena as soon as possible to get the battle over with. Daniel watched his breath rise into the cool evening air as they jogged, and marveled at how quickly things had happened. He hadn't even been on the island for twelve hours and he had already made a friend and an enemy, and was now probably breaking the school rules. As the arena-stadium thing grew near, Daniel breathed deeply, and let it out as they stopped in front of the glass doors. "How're we gonna get in?" Adrian asked.

As if in answer, the automatic doors slid open without a sound. The boys were silent, before Daniel muttered, "Well that answers that." The two crept into the building, spooked at how dark and quiet it was.

"This has got to be the most cliché thing I've ever done," Adrian muttered as they crept through the building. Daniel noticed a Janitor's trolley down one of the hallways, but guessed that the Janitor merely forgot to put it away. As Adrian and Daniel neared the arena itself, they heard something strange. It sounded as if an argument was going on.

The two turned a corner to see the strangest sight. Ian and his crony were having a hushed, yet still rather loud argument with a group of three girls, all dressed up way too nicely for this time of night. A black-haired girl stood by herself off to the side, clearly uncomfortable. As they got into earshot, they heard Ian growl, "…ou can't reserve a stadium after lights out! We're not even allowed to be here! Besides, how the heck was I meant to know you had a catfight with some chick?"

The leader of the group of girls huffed. "Whatever! I challenged this loser first, therefore I get stadium rights!"

"How do you know _you_ were first?! I could've been first, and I probably was!"

"The guys you challenged aren't even here yet!"

Ian looked around in frustration, and caught sight of Daniel and Adrian. Grinning, he pointed at them and retorted, "Yes they are!"

As the two groups continued to bicker and argue, the boys made their way over to the solitary girl. "What's going on?" Adrian asked.

The girl looked at them in relief. "Becky challenged me to a fight earlier today because I was sitting in her spot and I wasn't worshipping the ground she stood on. Problem is, when she got here, Fresh Cut over there was already here. They've been arguing since I got here." Daniel looked at the girl. She felt warm, like Cody, but also a lot softer. Daniel had to liken it to a cloud that had been soaking up sunlight.

"Right…" Daniel muttered, looking at the group of girls. The lead girl, Becky, seemed somewhat off. She had the feeling that Daniel expected, one of general unpleasantness, but something was weird about it. Like part of it was fake, a mask or something.

"My name's Miki Yamada, by the way. You?"

"I'm Adrian Turing, and this is Daniel Elyses," the boy said. Miki smiled at the two.

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" she said, smiling. Raised voices caused the trio to turn their heads, looking at what seemed to turn into a full-blown argument.

"Well your losers got here last, so I should get to battle first!" Becky shouted, hands on her hips and lips in full pouty frown mode.

"But I got here first, so I should battle first!" Ian retorted as he crossed his arms. Daniel could almost _see_ the lightning sparking between their eyes, and knew the situation would get ugly if this wasn't resolved.

Adrian seemingly had the same idea, and stepping forward, he called out, "Why don't you fight at the same time?" Becky and Ian swiveled their heads to glare at Adrian, making the boy flinch. "I-I mean," he continued, "Why don't we make this a double battle? Becky and Ian against Miki and Daniel, 2v2, that sort of thing? I can referee, too."

Daniel and Miki looked at each other, and nodded. "We're game if you are," Daniel said. Becky and Ian glared at each other, and huffed.

"Fine," they spat out in unison. The four took their spots at opposite sides of the field, and faced each other. The open roof overhead allowed the moon to shine down serenely on the scene, bathing the battlefield in its gentle white light. Adrian stood at the midway mark, Becky and Ian's cronies behind him, and looked at the two sides.

Clearing his throat, he announced, "This will be a double battle between Daniel and Miki, and the challengers Ian and Becky. Each trainer may pick only one Pokemon. When both Pokemon belonging to one side are unable to battle, the other side will be declared the victor. Are both sides ready?"

All four trainers shouted, "Ready!" and Adrian lifted his arm in the air.

"Then let this double battle…" Adrian paused, and then dropped his arm.

 **"** **Begin!"**


	4. Chapter 4 - Dual Midnight Duel

Four Pokeballs flew into the air, and split apart simultaneously. A strong red glow covered the field as the Pokemon materialized, before disappearing with a sparkle. On the field now were four Pokemon, each raring to fight.

On Daniel's side was of course Fidget, but to the Pokemon's left was a tall, feminine Pokemon with brown fur, and long pink ears that seemed to sparkle in the moonlight. Daniel partially recognized it as a Lopunny, but he had never seen one this colour before. On Ian and Becky's side were two contrasting Pokemon. One was a pink and cream creature with large ears and a kind smile. The other was a blue and black two-headed Dragon whose eyes were obscured by scale-like bangs. The Zweilous, as Daniel guessed, seemed to belong to Ian, which meant the pink one belonged to Becky. The kind-faced Pokemon seemed out of place under Becky's care, and judging by the uncomfortable look the creature gave her, it seemed to think the same.

Becky seemed suddenly furious. "How do you have a Shiny?!" she shrieked at Miki, making her Audino cover its ears. Daniel finally understood the colour difference. Shiny Pokemon were the result of some super rare genetic condition that made them sparkle in direct light, or something like that. Daniel had never seen one before, but he had to admit it was fairly impressive.

Miki winked, and replied, "I caught it in the wild! I guess I'm just lucky." Becky seemed ready to pop, and Ian seemed annoyed at his partner. Daniel shifted his gaze from the pink Lopunny to the Zweilous. The Dragon worried him. Zweilous only evolved from Deino at a ridiculously high level, and for Ian to have such a creature despite being a teenager set him on edge. The dragon no doubt overpowered every other Pokemon on the field, so they would have to resort to other methods to defeat it.

Becky finally snapped, and shouted, "Audino! Power-Up Punch that Lopunny!" Audino sighed, before charging at Miki's Pokemon.

"Fidget, take the blow! Then follow it up with Wing Attack!" Daniel shouted back. The Pokemon nodded, and flew in between the two pink Pokemon. The move connected, but due to Fidget's typing, did barely anything. Fidget's wings glowed, and she proceeded to smack Audino over and over with her wings.

"Don't let up, Cherry!" Miki continued, "Quick Attack, then Jump Kick!" The Lopunny, evidently called Cherry, nodded, and darted around Fidget at high speed. A well-placed kick to the stomach caused Audino to stumble back, and Cherry continued by somersaulting, smashing her heel onto the Audino's face in a burst of maroon smoke. The recoil caused Cherry to flip back and land perfectly as the Audino dropped to its rear, obviously in pain. Suddenly, Cherry was stuck by twin blasts of purple energy, causing her to tumble and cry out in pain.

Ian began to laugh. "You didn't forget about me, did you? Nidhogg! Hit that Noibat with another Dragon Pulse!" he ordered. Both of Nidhogg's head began to comply, each opening its mouth and gathering purple energy in its maw.

"Agility!" Daniel called. Fidget closed her eyes for a second, and as the twin streams neared, she seemingly vanished. Fidget reappeared behind Nidhogg, and Daniel shouted, "Air Cutter!" Fidget began to flap her wings wildly, whipping up an immensely strong wind that cut into Nidhogg and Audino, whilst Cherry dodged out of the way. Becky wasn't going to take it, however.

"Secret Power on Lopunny!" she commanded. Audino struggled to its feet, and proceeded to focus. Its fist glowed with a gray light, and it charged towards Cherry, a determined frown on its face.

Almost at the same time, Ian shouted, "Use Crunch on Lopunny! Take it down so we only have one to deal with!" Cherry turned to look at Miki, who nodded. Cherry nodded back, before crossing her arms and tensing. Cherry cried out in pain as both attacks made contact, but something happened. Cherry sparkled, and both Audino and one of Nidhogg's heads paused in awe. Audino gained a goofy look, and Nidhogg's left head let go, and turned away bashfully. Ian and Becky realized what happened almost immediately. "Cute Charm?!" they shouted in unison, and Miki grinned.

"You bet! And Endure meant that Cherry wasn't going to fall so easily. Cherry, use Bounce!" Miki called. Cherry nodded, and bent her legs, before springing up into the air, far out of range of either Pokemon. Audino and Nidhogg watched her go, awestruck, and Daniel saw this as his chance.

"Fidget, use Air Cutter again!" Fidget complied, and whipped up another windstorm that cut into the two Pokemon. Nidhogg's un-infatuated head turned to bark at Fidget, but the other head still looked at Cherry despite its lack of visible eyes. Audino didn't flinch or even attempt to move, so when Cherry dropped back down, it stayed put as her heel slammed into his face. The Audino toppled backwards, clearly unconscious, and fainted with a smile.

Adrian lifted an arm in the air. "Audino is unable to battle!" he announced. Becky shrieked as she recalled Audino, making Ian cover his ears and glare at her, but as she reached for another Pokeball, Adrian pointed at her. "Remember the rules, Becky! You're only allowed one Pokemon. If you send out another one you both forfeit the match."

"So that means shut up and let me finish this!" Ian shouted at her.

Miki saw her chance, and called, "Jump Kick!" Cherry obliged, somersaulting and preparing to land a supereffective kick to Nidhogg's face. Nidhogg's un-infatuated head instead heard the Pokemon coming, and took control of the body, moving to the side. The head clamped its jaw down on Cherry's leg, and slammed the Rabbit Pokemon into the ground. Cherry attempted to get up, but then collapsed, unable to get up. Adrian lifted his arm again.

"Lopunny is unable to battle!" he called. Looking at Daniel, he added with a weak smile, "It's up to you now, I guess."

"Isn't it against the rules to offer a trainer support?!" Becky cried indignantly.

"Says who?!" Miki retorted. Looking at the purple-haired boy, she offered, "You can do it, Daniel!" Daniel smiled at her and Adrian before taking a deep breath. After focusing for a second, he opened his eyes and looked directly at Nidhogg. The Hostile Pokemon was living up to its species' name, giving off an aura of extreme hostility. However, Cherry's Cute Charm was still doing the trick, as one of its heads had a dumbstruck look on its face. Perhaps Daniel could use that to his advantage. The Zweilous has raw power on its side, but Fidget had speed and agility thanks to her smaller size. A plan began to form in Daniel's mind, and he smirked.

"Fly between the heads!" he ordered. Fidget looked at him incredulously, as did everyone else in the stadium, but the Sound Wave Pokemon complied, flying at Nidhogg at full speed.

Ian frowned, but nevertheless grinned. "Are you trying to make it easy for me? I'm not complaining! Crunch that stupid Noibat!" Nidhogg's clear-minded head listened as Fidget flew closer. At the last second, it lunged forward, and attempted to clamp its jaws around Fidget. Time seemed to slow down for Daniel, and he felt his heart reverberate through his body, beating in time with Fidget's wingbeats. Fidget twisted out of the way of Nidhogg's jaw at the last moment, and continued through the gap between its heads. This had the effect Daniel hoped for, as Nidhogg's attack continued, and proceeded to bite down on the other head. Time resumed its regular speed, and Nidhogg's head roared in pain. The head on the receiving end of the attack barked at the attacking head, and bit it right back. Daniel whooped and punched the air, his plan having gone off without a hitch. "What?!" Ian roared. "Nidhogg, stop attacking yourself!"

The damage had already been done, however. Both heads were now attacking each other, letting off attacks at close range and fighting for dominance. The body itself stumbled, and Daniel shouted, "Fidget, finish him off with a double Wing Attack!" Fidget cried out, and flew at Nidhogg at breakneck speed. Both her wings glowed with a sky-blue energy, and as she flew by, she simultaneously stuck both of Nidhogg's heads in the back of the neck. The dragon cried out, and slumped to the ground, unconscious. Adrian, smiling like a loon, lifted his arm one last time.

"Zweilous is unable to battle!" he announced, ecstatic. "That means the battle goes to Daniel and Miki!" Unable to control himself, Adrian punched the air and shouted, "Yeah!" Ian on the other hand seemed unable to talk, and simply recalled Nidhogg silently, trembling with rage. His crony tried to offer a comforting hand, but he wordlessly shook it off. Fidget flew back to Daniel, and he wrapped her into a hug, before placing her onto his shoulder, scratching her under her chin.

Suddenly, the lights in the arena turned on, and every single student on the field froze to the sound of applause. They all turned to see two teachers and a janitor standing on a balcony a bit above them. One teacher was young, with dark blue hair and a stripe of light blue running through it, whilst the other was the older teacher with the impressive moustache. The janitor had grey hair, and held a mop between his arms as he clapped enthusiastically. "Bravo!" he called out.

"Yes, bravo…" the mustachioed teacher agreed, clapping with less enthusiasm.

"That was fantastic, guys!" the young teacher added. Looking at the older teacher, he said, "See, I told you the Cobalion kids would win. Pay up." The older teacher sighed, and pulled a note out of his pocket, handing it to the blue-haired man.

"Y-you watched the battle?" Adrian stammered. The teacher with the mustache huffed.

"Of course! What kind of school would we be if we didn't know what was going on in one of our most important buildings at all times? We have cameras everywhere in here," he explained.

Daniel was confused. "And you're… Not mad at us?" he asked. The blue-haired man laughed.

"Mad? Of course not! That battle was fantastic!" he replied.

"But we broke the school rules!"

Both teachers gave the students a look that was recognizable even from a floor below. "Please," the young teacher began, "A bunch of hormonally-charged teenagers on a somewhat isolated island with Pokemon at their command? Of course you're gonna end up having midnight battles. Sure, it's against the school rules, but we aren't honestly expecting you guys to comply for quite a while."

"What Mr Hillman is trying to get across is that we are not going to punish you this particular transgression. If you do it again, however, we shall not hold back." The teacher cleared his throat, and added, "As it stands, the battle shall be recorded and your ranks altered accordingly."

Daniel's mystified frown grew. "Wait, ranks?" he asked.

Adrian turned to look at his friend, confused. "You don't know?" A look of comprehension dawned on his face, and he continued, "Oh that's right! You missed the orientation. Basically, every student is ranked by how many battles they've won, lost, or tied. Everyone can find out their own rank, but only the top 10 in each year are visible to everyone. It's a kind of 'encouragement to be the best' type thing."

"But… How are we ranked to begin with? Are we all on the same rank, or…"

"We're apparently ranked by how well we did on the sim battle in the entrance exam," Miki added, having walked over to the duo. Laughing weakly, she continued, "Which doesn't exactly fill me with confidence…"

The teachers had been having some conversation with each other whilst the trio talked, but Mr Moustache eventually spoke, "Alright, enough fooling around. Classes start tomorrow, and it's already 1AM. Get back to your dorms and try not to disturb anyone else. You'll find that gates are unlocked this time." With that, he and Mr Hillman turned on their heels and walked away. The janitor was nowhere to be seen.

Miki sighed. "Well, I guess I better head back now." The girl held out her hand, and said, "That was a great battle, Daniel. I hope we can do it again sometime!"

Taking her hand, Daniel replied, "You too, Miki." The girl smiled, and walked off, sticking her tongue out at Becky as she passed. Huffing, Becky and her two companions followed, clearly angry. Ian wasn't sticking around either, and with a venomous glare at Adrian and Daniel, he left with his crony, leaving only Adrian and Daniel in the arena. Daniel recalled Fidget and then began to leave with Adrian.

As they walked through the building Adrian asked, "How did you know that was going to work? The fly-through thing?"

The other boy shrugged and replied, "It was a lucky guess. Zweilous heads don't get on at the best of times. One of them was still lovestruck, so I thought that if it was attacked by the other head, it would think they were fighting over Cherry. You saw the outcome of that."

"And what a good strategy," came a voice. Daniel jumped, and turned to see the Janitor smiling at him, mopping the floor as he did so. "You have a natural instinct for battling, Daniel, and your sheer empathy can be a valuable asset. Don't let your skills go to waste."

Unsure what to say, Daniel simply gaped at the man. Eventually he stammered, "I-I won't." The Janitor nodded, and continued to mop.

"Daniel?" The boy turned his head to see Adrian waiting by the front door. "Who're you talking to?" Daniel turned to point at the Janitor, but when he looked back, no-one was there.

"No-one," he replied. "I guess…" Daniel shook his head and walked away, exiting the building with Adrian and beginning the trek back to their dorm.

Around the corner, the Janitor chuckled to himself. Straightening, the man placed his mop away in the trolley and began to walk off, whistling.


	5. Chapter 5 - First Day

Rivulets of hot water ran down Daniel's back and torso as he let the shower wake him up. The shared bathroom's fan coughed as it attempted to keep up with the sheer amount of steam the boy was producing with his shower. Anyone else would find the shower scalding, but to Daniel it was just right. Living in a family with six brothers had taught Daniel to appreciate warm showers, as waking up too late could mean being stuck with nearly frozen water to clean himself with. It had also taught Daniel to wake up early to have his showers, a habit he kept to this day. Deciding that he had woken up enough to function through the day, Daniel turned off the hot water and stepped out to dry himself off.

Wrapping the towel around his waist, Daniel stepped out of the bathroom to see Adrian sitting up in bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Good mor- oh," Adrian stopped, realizing he was at eye level with Daniel's abs. He looked away bashfully, and muttered, "I see what you mean about great exercise." He fidgeted with his wristbands again, which Daniel noticed he had worn to bed for whatever reason.

"Good morning to you too. Shower's free if you want," Daniel offered. Adrian nodded, and got out of bed, heading straight past Daniel and closing the door behind him. Shaking his head, he reasoned that Adrian mustn't be used to other guys walking about shirtless or whatever. Daniel was comfortable with his body, and so didn't really give much thought to what others thought. He'd have to make a mental note to be more considerate in the future.

The cupboard doors swung open at a touch, and the sight caused Daniel to freeze. All of his clothes, which had just been thrown in haphazardly, were now neatly folded, and there were now five new crisp, white polo shirts on top of the shirt pile. Daniel lifted one up to inspect it and discovered that it was the same polo shirt that he had seen Cody wearing the day before, except with only one Chevron on the shoulder. Frowning, Daniel called out, "What's with the shirts?"

"They're our school uniform! We have to live here 24/7, so they're pretty lax on the dress code. As long as we wear that shirt, we can wear whatever we want," came Adrian's muffled reply. Daniel heard the shower turn on, and almost immediately, Adrian swore, and shouted, "What the heck Daniel?! Are you a Volcanion or something?"

"Something like that, I think." The boy looked at the Polo, and shrugged to himself. Daniel dropped the towel and pulled on the shirt, grabbing some underwear and comfy jeans to wear for the day. He had just finished pulling on his purple high-tops when Adrian exited the bathroom, fully dressed. "That was quick," Daniel remarked, grinning.

Adrian glared at him, and replied, "Well the whole 'nice way to wake up' is kinda ruined by nearly being boiled alive."

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad."

" _You had the temperature handle all the way on hot!_ "

"I appreciate warm showers, what can I say?"

Adrian rolled his eyes and pulled his own black sneakers on. "Whatever, weirdo. C'mon, let's get to breakfast before everything good is taken."

Daniel recalled Fidget, who had been to that point hanging from the ceiling, wrapped his purple scarf around his neck, and exited his and Adrian's shared bedroom with Adrian locking the door behind them. Together, they joined the few boys who had just woken up and began the trek out of the boy's dorms and towards the cafeteria. As they exited the triad of dorm rooms and walked to the main buildings, Daniel overheard one boy mumble to his friend, "Why do we have to walk everywhere again? Why couldn't we just have breakfast in our dorms?"

"That Mr Strudel guy said the dorms were a lot closer when the school was built. More students meant we were moved out here. A ten minute walk isn't so bad," his friend replied.

"But I don't like walking. I just wanna sleeeeeeep…" the boy's head drooped, and his friend muttered something about being roomed with a hypochondriac.

"So what was with the clothes this morning?" Daniel asked Adrian, turning to look at the boy.

Adrian brushed a bang away from his face, and replied, "You mean how they got there? I'm not sure. I think I heard someone say the Assistant Principal has like, two Alakazams, so I'm guessing they just teleported them there?" The boy shrugged and yawned, murmuring, "I am so not a morning person."

As they neared the main buildings, the stream of boys joined with a stream of girls, evidently coming from their own dorms. Boys attempted to make small talk with the girls, and Daniel swore he saw a few boys attempt to impress a few girls, to no avail. Behind them, a voice called, "Danny! Adri!" The two paused, causing the stream to divert around them, and turned to see a black haired girl running over to them.

"Hey Miki," Daniel said as the girl caught up to them. The girl smiled, and began to walk with them. Her own white and orange shirt was paired with a black skirt that went to her knees, and long black stockings to ward off the mid-Autumn chill. There was a clip in her hair with a miniature fake rose attached

"Nice skirt," Adrian remarked. Miki smiled brightly, ignoring any trace of snark Adrian might have implied.

"Thanks! I thought I should wear jeans or something, but I haven't worn this skirt in aaages. It reminds me of my old school uniform," she chirped. Adrian groaned.

"Oh great, you're both morning people." Miki and Daniel simply grinned at him. Muffled noise alerted the trio to a nearby building. A sign to the right of the large double doors told Daniel after a few seconds that this was the Cafeteria. They entered, and were hit with a wall of noise. Nearly three quarters of the school were inside the large complex, and Daniel saw many of the boys and girls who entered turn and head up some stairs. Chairs and tables were littered around the bottom level, and students of varying levels of awakeness and dress were scattered about. It was only the morning of the first day of term, but cliques had already begun to form.

There was a square clearing in the center of the floor, in front of the serving area. Daniel, Adrian and Miki headed over to the decent-sized line, and Daniel looked up to see three more levels above them, each with students milling about. The top level seemed reserved for Seniors, and Daniel swore he saw the edge of an armchair on that level. Similarly, only Juniors were in the level below, and only Sophomores in the level below that. Daniel looked at the students below him, and as he expected, only Freshmen were present.

Daniel's eyes widened as he saw the lineup of food in the serving area. There was the typical toast and cereal, but there were also eggs, sausages, bacon, and a large array of fruit. "That… Is a lot of food…" he whistled.

"Well, yeah. They have 225 odd students to feed per year," Adrian replied, forgoing plates and simply grabbing an apple.

"Huh?"

"900 by four is 225. Adrian's just being clever," Miki explained, poking her tongue at the brown-haired boy, who responded in kind. Daniel nodded as if this was obvious; hoping neither of his friends noticed his cheeks reddening slightly. He grabbed a plate and food, and headed to an empty table with his friends. They all sat, and began chatting about the upcoming school year.

Eventually, Daniel had to ask, "So does anyone know what we're doing? I don't have a timetable or anything… Were they handed out at Orientation?"

Miki and Adrian shook their heads. "They didn't say anything about timetables. I can go check the noticeboard, if you want?" Adrian offered.

"Yes please!" Miki replied. The boy stood up, and with a well-aimed throw tossed his apple core into a nearby bin. He headed over to a digital board attached to the wall near the entrance, and the other two continued to chat. "Does that guy have a guitar case?" Daniel turned to see who Miki was pointing out, and eventually his eyes landed on a curly-haired blond boy, who was in the middle of a conversation with some girls. As Miki said, the blond boy did seem have a black guitar case by his feet.

"Looks like it," Daniel replied, turning back to his friend. Noticing Adrian returning, he waved. "Well?"

"We're meant to go to the main auditorium, but you two need to come with me. There's something you should see." Adrian had a grin on his face, and, baffled, the two got up and followed him. Daniel couldn't help but notice a small crowd around the board. Once they were close enough, they could see why. The left side of the board was largely empty save for a few notices and a reminder of the school rules, but the right was taken up by a large display. This side was clearly devoted to battles, with a list to the very right titled 'Recent Battles', under which the only heading was: 'Daniel Elyses, Miki Yamada vs. Ian König, Rebecca Queen. Victors: Daniel Elyses, Miki Yamada.'

A screen above that was showing video of the battle, with the words 'Replay' in the top right corner. On it, Fidget was flying between Nidhogg's heads far faster than Daniel remembered it happening. Finally, to the left of the battles list and video was another list. The list had several names and a title which identified it as a 'Top Battlers' list. Next to each of the names was a number indicating the rank of that particular person as well as a picture of that person, and at the very top of the list was what Adrian seemed to want to show them. Daniel stared in shock, and had to blink and rub his eyes to make sure what he was seeing was correct. "No way…" he muttered in disbelief. Sitting at the top of the list was a very familiar name:

1\. Daniel Elyses

Sure enough, a picture of the purple-haired boy sat next to his name, larger than all the rest. Daniel recognized it as the one the Celestic Pokemon Center took for his entrance exam. Daniel was standing in front of the Shrine in the center of town, Fidget sitting proudly on his left shoulder. Adrian clapped him on the shoulder. "Congratulations, man! You must have done fantastically on the battle sim," he said with a grin.

Daniel was still in shock, but somehow managed to say, "I guess so…"

"Well, now I see why you beat Ian so easily," Miki added, pointing to just below Daniel's name. Next to the number two spot was the name 'Ian König'. His photo sat below Daniel's, and whilst it looked far more professional, it also seemed colder. The boy was dressed in a dark blue suit and placed against a white background with the König Bank logo emblazoned across it. He wasn't smiling at all, which was a strong contrast to the somewhat goofy smile plastered across Daniel's photo.

A small beep drew the trio's attention to a flash notice, which then enlarged to cover most of the board. The notice told the Freshmen to go to the Main Auditorium, and even had a little map pointing to a building not far away. The group around the board sighed, and dispersed, some heading to their friends and others out the doors. Miki tugged on Adrian and Daniel's sleeves. "Let's go and get some good seats," she offered.

"Do you know the way there?" Adrian asked.

"The map on the board tells you how to get there. Plus I memorized the map on Orientation, because I'm cool like that." Miki turned and began to walk towards the doors. Adrian began to follow, but stopped and looked back to Daniel, who was still staring in shock at his name.

"You coming?" he asked. Daniel snapped out of his stunned silence and looked at his friend.

"Huh? Oh right, yeah. Coming!" he replied. Adrian nodded and followed Miki. Daniel gave the board one last look before he ran after his friends, not wanting to get left behind.

A/N: Hey guys, Blazikid here! Sorry for the slow chapter, but I would like to say thank you so much for reading my story, and a big thank you to those who have reviewed and sent me messages! I'm throwing out a little notification here, just so you all know: I used to have a buffer of a couple of chapters, but now I'm only halfway through Chapter 7. I'm currently in the hardest term of school this year, and I'm having assessment and study thrown at me left and right. If all goes well and my studying doesn't interfere with my writing, this notification will mean nothing, but if not, **there may be a delay between chapters**. Admittedly, this means nothing at this point in the story, considering we're barely into the first day of term, but I thought I'd give you guys a heads-up.

Thank you again for reading, and I hope you all enjoy!


	6. Chapter 6 - Mr K and Madatories

"So let me get this straight," Adrian said as the trio walked. "The 'Main Auditorium' isn't actually the main auditorium, it was just the first one built?"

Miki nodded as she led them around a corner. "My orientation guide said that if they need to talk to all of us, they usually gather us in the Cafeteria or the Stadium," she explained as she went, checking door numbers.

"So it's a stadium, not an arena?" Daniel asked, thoroughly confused.

Shrugging, Miki replied, "Depends on who you talk to, I guess? I've heard it called both." Adrian and Daniel shared a look.

"Who the heck built this place?" Adrian said in exasperation.

Miki winked at him as she ducked around another corner. "Kalosians." Adrian scowled, which made Daniel laugh.

"They do say Hell is where the engineers are Kalosian," he joked. Adrian glared at him and muttered something about having the worst choice in friends.

"Here we go!" Miki said triumphantly. In front of them stood a pair of wide-open double doors. Cody and a red-haired girl were standing in front of the doors, and when they noticed the trio, Cody immediately walked up to them.

"What took you guys? You almost missed the beginning!" he exclaimed, herding them to the doors.

"Not that you would've missed much. Mr K's about as exciting as a dry Stunfisk," the girl snorted. Cody simply rolled his eyes, and ushered the trio inside the auditorium. The lights were still on, and none of the students inside noticed the late arrivals.

As they tried to find a group of seats, Adrian hissed to Miki, "I thought you said you knew a shortcut to get here?"

Miki lifted her hands in defense. "I never said I knew a shortcut, only how to get here."

"You said you memorized the map!"

"That may have been a bit of an exaggeration…" Adrian groaned, and Daniel just chuckled at his friends. Some free seats, he led his bickering friends over to sit. Just in time as well, because almost as soon as they had settled themselves, the lights in the hall dimmed as the ones on the stage lit up.

The room was silent for a bit, before a drumroll played over the PA, and a bald man in a red vest walked onto the stage to pre-recorded applause. "Thank you, thank you! Glad to be here kids!" he said, a winning smile on his face. None of the students in the audience said anything, as they were simply stunned into silence.

"My name is Mr K," the man continued with a grin, "And before you ask, no it is not short for anything, stop asking. May I please be the first to welcome you to Victory High Academy!" Mr K lifted his arms as confetti burst from some hidden guns. The man was obviously expecting some cheering, but the auditorium was awkwardly silent. Clearing his throat, he continued, "Anyway… This assembly is just so I can fill you all in on how the next four years of school will take place. And at the end, I have a gift for each and every one of you!" Mr K went silent, expecting the audience to react, but again they were silent. The man sighed and muttered just loud enough to be picked up on the mic, "Why do they always pick me to do this?"

Shaking his head, Mr K continued, "As I'm sure you all know, you have sixteen years of education before you're allowed into the world, and you are on lucky number thirteen! Your final Quarter is going to be different to your first three, but I'm certain you can handle it. After all, you were all accepted here, were you not?" The man winked, again being met with silence. Muttering something about teenagers, he continued, "Whilst you're here, you will attend five days of classes a week, as well as an additional elective on Saturdays. Your Monday to Friday classes will be split into five separate lessons: two Mandatories in the morning and then three electives in the afternoon."

On the word 'Mandatories' almost the entire auditorium groaned, eliciting an irritated frown from Mr K. "These Mandatories will be exactly what you're used to. You will have either English or Math every day and basic Science and Pokemon Theory throughout." The audience wasn't very pleased with this news, and Daniel sunk in his seat. He disliked the Mandatories with almost every fiber of his being.

To Daniel's left, Miki chuckled, "Even the tenth percentile hates Madatories, that's good to know." Adrian and Daniel laughed weakly and turned back to the stage, where Mr K was speaking again.

"After your Mandatories, you will have two and a half hours for lunch." Everyone seemed to perk up at this, making Mr K smile a little. "This gives you time to relax and battle and Chattr or whatever it is teenagers do these days before you start your electives. You will have a half-hour break in between electives, and each class is an hour long. Your school day starts at 8:30 and ends at 4:30, after which you will be left to your own devices until dinner at 7."

Mr K clapped his hands together incredibly loudly, startling most of the auditorium. "Now then, time for that gift I promised you all. Gentlemen, if you will?" The dark room suddenly lit up slightly as a sparkle of light appeared in front of every single student. The sparkle grew slightly, and then burst to reveal a thin white object, with an orange 'V' in the center. The object floated down into Daniel's hands, and he looked at it strangely, not sure what to do. "These are your Scrolls!" Mr K announced with a big grin on his face. "And they will be your best friend for the next four years. Your Scroll will keep you up to date on your timetable, announcements, challenges, Rank, and even the status of your Pokemon once you register them. I recommend waiting until after I've finished to sign into your scrolls and register your Pokemon-" The man was interrupted by a loud, irritating buzz that echoed from nearly every Scroll in the room, and he finished, "Because they won't open until then."

The man paused, no doubt waiting for applause, but when the students remained quiet, he sighed. "That being said, I'm finished here." A group of boys whooped and cheered at this, earning them one of the most venomous glares Daniel had ever seen. "I only have some parting words, and a request: may you all enjoy your education here at Victory High Academy, and whatever you do, do NOT run in the halls! I will not hesitate to have you all writing lines for your breaks! Thank you."

Daniel, Miki, and Adrian flinched at the sudden forcefulness of Mr K's words, and the auditorium filled with whispering as he left the stage. "That was… Interesting," Adrian commented. Miki nodded in agreement, and all three looked at the Scroll in their hands.

Daniel frowned at the device, and lifted it up to inspect it. Lengthways, the Scroll was around the size of some of the smartphones Daniel had seen other kids have, and it had a small camera on the front and a larger one on the back. With nothing else to do Daniel pressed the V. With a beep, the device expanded so that it was roughly the size of a small book, with a brightly lit blue screen. The school's crest flashed for a moment, before a calm female voice said, "Hold still." Daniel blinked in surprise, and then there was a click. Daniel's surprised face flashed up on the screen, and the voice asked, "Confirm that you are Daniel Elyses."

Adrian and Miki said something to their Scrolls, and unsure of what else to do, Daniel said, "Um… Confirm, I guess?" The Scroll whirred quietly, before a small box appeared.

"Please place right index finger here," the voice instructed. Daniel complied, and after thinking for a bit, the Scroll said, "Scroll registered to: Daniel Elyses." There was a beep, and a display appeared. A map of the building Daniel was in stood in the center, with Daniel's timetable for the day just below it. 'Mandatory 2: English' was highlighted, and a room on the map was blinking in orange, complete with a dotted path leading to it. Little tabs with words like 'Pokemon', 'Student Info', and 'Notices' sat collapsed on the left-hand side, with the tab 'Classes' currently open.

Miki whistled. "They must have a lot of money to make 2000 of these. And some very skilled programmers, too."

Adrian snorted. "Please, give my friends and I a month or two and we could make this, no sweat," he said. "Do either of you have Math with Mr… How do you even pronounce that? Strudel?"

Miki perked up. "Steutzel?" she asked.

"That's it."

"I do! What about you, Daniel?" The boy shook his head.

"English," he sighed as his shoulders slumped. Miki pouted.

"Aw, that's no good. But there's nothing we can do about it, I suppose." Turning her head to Adrian, she said, "We should get going."

The boy nodded. "We'll send you a message once class is over, okay?" he said to Daniel. The boy nodded sadly, and Adrian looked uneasy. "Well, um… See you after, I guess?"

"See you…" Daniel said. Adrian brushed a bang of hair out of his face, and shared a concerned look with Miki. Shrugging at each other, the two got up and followed their fellow students out of the auditorium, Miki giving Daniel a small wave as she left. A few minutes later, the purple-haired boy groaned, and stood up to follow them.

After getting lost despite having the help of the dotted line, Daniel finally found his classroom. The boy looked at the plywood door in distaste but sighed and opened it anyway. The teacher at the front of the classroom stopped and regarded Daniel. He had silver hair that looked thin and greasy even from this far away and a pair of glasses over his beady grey eyes. A grey golf vest did nothing to hide his ample gut which, combined with his slightly hunched back, gave the image of an obese gargoyle. "Daniel Elyses I presume? Please take a seat, and keep in mind that I don't appreciate lateness," the man said. Daniel's morose frown became slightly irritated as he muttered a half-hearted apology under his breath, tugging his scarf up a little bit.

Searching for a seat, he quickly found one up the back of the classroom, next to a boy with dirty blonde hair and a guitar case. As he sat down, Daniel recognised him as the same boy Miki pointed out that morning. This close, Daniel couldn't help but admire his features. His dirty blonde hair sat in perfect curls, reminding Daniel of some surfers he had seen on a trip to the Hoenn region, whilst his hazel eyes seemed to shimmer softly in the classroom light. On a cord around his neck was an intricately carved design made from some sort of bone, which rested in the small space between his collarbones. And the feeling the boy had… Daniel felt warm and comfortable just by sitting next to him, and that was even without the subtle, almost musical air that hung around him. Daniel must have been staring, because the boy glanced over at Daniel, and gave him a slightly bemused smile. The purple-haired boy started, and quickly turned his gaze to look at the teacher, who was now droning on about books they'd be expected to borrow from the library, or something. "You okay there?" the boy asked.

Daniel glanced at the boy, and nodded. "Yeah, fine, thanks," he replied. The boy's smile widened, and Daniel felt his heart skip a beat. Daniel swallowed, and continued, "My name's Daniel, what's yours?"

"Tristan Newton. I think I recognize you, you're the one who fought Ian last night, right?" The boy shifted in his seat so that he could talk to Daniel better, and Daniel did the same.

"Yeah, a friend and I were challenged by him. You know Ian?"

"Yeah, we're in Virizion together. He's in the room next to me." Tristan chuckled slightly. "That was an awesome battle, by the way. I saw the replay and just- wow. You have some serious skill." Daniel blushed and muttered a thank you, smiling softly.

"Gentlemen down the back, please refrain from talking during my lessons!" the teacher suddenly barked, interrupting the conversation. Daniel glared at him, and when his back was turned made a silent impersonation of him, slouching and crossing his eyes. Tristan had to put a hand over his mouth to stop from giggling, which in turn made Daniel start to laugh. The teacher turned to glare at them, but the two boys managed to hold a straight face for long enough to avoid him getting angry.

The two boys turned back to the front, but not before Tristan offered, "Nice hair, by the way." The comment caused Daniel to smile, an expression that stayed with him up until the teacher began to hand out copies of 'The Great Gastly'. The purple-haired boy eyed the novel in distaste and reluctantly picked it up to read.

The remaining 40 minutes of class went by slowly as Daniel struggled his way through the book. By the time a bell rang, Daniel was only a chapter in whilst everyone was much further ahead. Tristan gave him a concerned look as the boy dropped the book on the table as instructed, sighing in frustration. "Are you okay, dude?"

Daniel tugged his scarf higher on his face, avoiding Tristan's gaze. "Yeah, I'm fine," he responded curtly.

Raising an eyebrow, Tristan retorted, "Really? Because you didn't seem fine." The two walked out of the classroom in silence, as the halls filled with students of various ages. "Are you-"

"Yes, I'm sure!" Daniel snapped. Tristan seemed hurt, and Daniel kicked himself for getting angry at someone he had just met. "Sorry. I just… Really don't like the Mandatories."

"No-one does." Tristan offered Daniel a sympathetic smile. "If you ever need any help with English or whatever, let me know, okay?" Daniel nodded, smiling weakly at the blonde boy. Tristan smiled back, before he glanced at a clock on the wall. "Oh geez, I better get going. I promised my roommate I'd meet him for a battle. Do you wanna come with, or..?"

Daniel was about to reply, before he felt his pocket buzz. He pulled out his Scroll, and opened it to see a message from Adrian blinking at him. Turning his gaze back to Tristan, he replied, "I'd love to, but I said I'd meet up with my friend. See you around, I guess?"

"Sure thing. See you, Danny!" Tristan clapped Daniel on the shoulder, and then took off down the corridor. Daniel had to move to the side of the hallway for a second to allow his goofy grin to disappear. As he did so, he looked at the message Adrian sent. A map was attached somehow, pointing to some lake not too far from the running track. Fiddling around with the Scroll, Daniel sent a quick reply, and then set off at a light jog, wanting to take advantage of as much of his lunch break as possible.


	7. Chapter 7 - Energetic Encounter

"So it's a left at the running track and through the forest for a few hundred meters?" Daniel asked himself, looking around. The trees around him all looked alike, and he was almost certain he had overshot. "You can send me a map but not directions how to get there? Thanks, Adrian." Daniel sighed in frustration and kicked a tree, instantly wincing at the pain. If the tree had been any sturdier, the boy would have climbed it to get a better vantage point, but unfortunately the tree could only support the various Bug-types and Flying-types who occupied such areas, some of which were looking at the boy curiously. He instead had to resort to using Fidget as a scout of sorts.

A squeak alerted Daniel to his Pokemon's return, and he grinned as the Sound Wave Pokemon glided down to perch on his shoulder, scaring away almost every Bug watching the boy. "Hey girl! Did you find him?" Fidget chirped happily and pointed a wing down an avenue of trees. "Thanks! I'll make sure to get you a treat when I eventually get to visit the campus shop." He scratched the bat under her chin, and then set off in the direction she pointed.

Less than ten minutes later, Daniel emerged from the trees to find himself in a large clearing. Maybe a hundred or so students were littered around a massive lake, doing various activities from reading, to playing with their pokemon and even swimming in some cases. The ground gently sloped down to the impressive body of water, which seemed crystal clear despite how far away Daniel was. A familiar boy with longish brown hair and black wristbands spotted Daniel, and made his way over.

"You got lost," Adrian stated rather than asked. The two began to walk, and Adrian continued, "I was tracking you, and you turned off too early."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Well yeah. It wasn't like you gave me directions or anything." The boy stopped in his tracks. "Wait, tracking?"

"Well, yeah. The Scrolls have GPS, so it was easy to just hack into and search for yours." Adrian shrugged. Daniel almost wanted to laugh, if it weren't for the fact that Adrian looked completely serious.

"You… Hacked your Scroll? How?"

"Simple, really. Twitch possessed it when Miki and I were in Math, disabled a firewall or two, and gave me a proper keyboard. The rest was really easy." Adrian shrugged awkwardly, and sheepishly brushed a bang out of his face.

Daniel laughed weakly, and replied, "I'm not sure whether to be impressed or terrified."

"I can teach you, if you like?"

Daniel shook his head vigorously, purple hair whipping about and disturbing Fidget somewhat. "I can barely handle Mandatories. I think techno god stuff would be a bit much for me."

Adrian grinned, and replied, "Your loss."

"YOU!" Both boys turned to see the source of the outburst, which was currently barreling towards them at a breakneck pace. As the distance between the boys and the object narrowed, Daniel realized that it was a boy, and not some Pokemon as he originally thought. The boy finally skidded to a stop, stumbling as he did so. After stooping to catch his breath, the boy straightened, and pointed directly at Daniel. "Fight me! Right now!" he panted, still somehow ridiculously energetic, to the point where Daniel could feel him exuding energy to spare.

Daniel blinked. "Excuse me?" he asked, put off by the boy's forwardness.

Rolling his navy blue eyes as if he couldn't believe he needed to explain himself, the boy elaborated, "You're Daniel Elyses right? Of course you are who else has purple hair and a freaking Noibat? Anyway you're #1 on the rankings! My name's Miles Wernicke, I'm #3! If I beat you, I get to become #1! So come on already!"

Daniel finally recognised the boy. His portrait had sat beneath Ian's, next to #4 and #5. In the picture, the boy's messy blond hair was complimented by navy blue eyes, and an excited grin that seemed to radiate energy; the same grin currently plastered all over the boy in front of Daniel. Despite being taken aback by Mile's lack of subtlety or pausing for breath, the idea of a battle intrigued Daniel. "Okay, you're on!"

Miles whooped and punched the air triumphantly. Adrian leaned in close, and asked, "Are you sure? Especially so soon after last night?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Daniel replied. "Fidget and I can take him!" The purple bat chittered in agreement, and nuzzled into Daniel's ear.

"Still…" Adrian thought for a moment, and a flash of inspiration crossed his face. Unclipping something from his belt, he tossed it to Daniel with a, "Here." Daniel caught the object just in time, and saw it was a pink Heal Ball. "Just in case," the brunet added with a smile. "Her name's Tremble." Daniel grinned, and turned back to Miles.

"Let's go, then!" he called. Miles danced on the spot a bit, and pulled something off his belt.

Winding up his arm like a baseball pitcher, he called, "Dash! Let's-"

"Hold it!" Miles paused mid-pitch, causing him to lose his footing and faceplant. Adrian shook his head at the boy's antics, and walked to mid-field. "I'll referee this, is that okay with you Miles?"

Miles got up and spat out a clump of grass. "Yeah sure whatever, I just wanna FIGHT!" the boy shouted, hopping from foot to foot.

Adrian nodded and, in his best announcer voice, called out, "This battle will be between Miles Wernicke and Daniel Elyses! Each trainer may use as many Pokemon as they have, and when all the Pokemon on one side are unable to battle, the other side wins. Ready…"

" **Begin!** "

Miles drew back his arm even further this time, and then threw the Pokeball at the ground with all his might, causing it to bounce high into the air. "Dash!" he shouted as the orb split open to show a large, three-headed bird with long black necks and pink tail feathers. The bird's heads cawed one after the other, identifying itself as a Dodrio.

"Tremble!" Daniel shouted at the same time, throwing the pink ball into the air. Splitting open in a burst of soft pink, a rose-coloured light arced through the air to land neatly on the ground, dissipating softly to reveal a small, orange ball. The ball's antennae-like whiskers twitched as it looked around the field. "What the…" Daniel blinked. He couldn't recall seeing this Pokemon before, and other than assuming it was an electric-type and a boy, he had nothing to go on save for a vague sense of recognition.

"Tri Attack, go!" Daniel looked up just in time to see three orbs fly out of the Dodrio's mouths, each a different colour. Tremble noticed it too, and cried out in alarm.

"Tremble, try to Thunder Shock them out of the air!" Daniel called. Tremble stared at the boy, and glanced at Adrian, who simply nodded. The mouse shrugged and turned back to see the orbs alarmingly close. Crying out in shock, the mouse became surrounded in a field of electricity, which it quickly discharged in the direction of the orbs. The arc of lightning collided with the light blue orb and the red orb, causing them to shatter like ice and dissipate in a burst of heat, respectively. The yellow orb managed to curve around the attack and collide with Tremble, knocking him backwards.

"Keep firing them off, and get in close enough to use Fury Attack!" Miles shouted, pointing as hard as he could at Tremble. The middle Dodrio cawed in agreement, and seemingly took charge of the body, running forwards faster than the side heads could react. It fired off orb after orb of electricity, and the side heads could only attempt to keep up with their own orbs.

"Put some distance between you two, and use Charge when you can!" Tremble chittered something, and began to dash through the grass, leaping left to right to avoid the elemental orbs. The Pokemon's small stature allowed it to dodge the increasingly accurate orbs with ease, but it would still receive glancing blows, and the Dodrio's far greater height meant it was closing, fast. Finally, one of the light-blue orbs made a solid connection on Tremble's tail, freezing it to the ground. The mouse tried to no avail to free it from the ice, and looked at the rapidly approaching Flying-type in horror. Daniel racked his brains for an idea, and his green eyes flashed as something crossed his mind. "Use Charm!" He called, before sheepishly adding, "If you know Charm, that is…"

Tremble looked in amazement at Daniel, and then back at the approaching bird, and then back at Daniel. Pointing at the Dodrio, Tremble gave Daniel a look that clearly said 'what the heck dude', but having none of it, the purple-haired boy shouted, "Just do it, Tremble!" The mouse sighed with a sideways glance and closed its eyes. Just before the large bird dove in to attack, Tremble looked at it with the cutest face possible, its large black eyes sparkling so much Daniel had to shield his eyes for a second.

The three heads reacted exactly how Daniel wanted them to: the middle head hesitated somewhat, the right head paused for a brief moment, and the left head didn't attack at all. With only two heads to face, and only one aggressive head at that, Tremble had an easier time dodging and withstanding the attack. "Now, while it's close! Use Charge Beam!" Daniel shouted, taking a shot in the dark as to Tremble's moveset. Thankfully, the gamble payed off, and Tremble blasted the bird point-blank with a concentrated beam of electricity, knocking it backwards with a plume of yellow smoke. The beam also caused sparks to travel up and down Tremble's small frame, giving it enough energy to shatter the ice trapping its tail. "Get on its back and use Thunder Shock!" Tremble nodded, and dashed towards the dazed Dodrio, scrambling up its long legs and sitting comfortably on its back, where its heads couldn't reach him. It mock-yawned as the right head glared at it, and then with an evil smirk, cried out and unleashed all of the electricity in its body.

Dash was enveloped in an explosion of yellow smoke before it collapsed to the ground with a faint cry. "Nice one, Tremble!" Daniel paused, and realized something. "Wait a moment," he muttered to himself. "Miles didn't really say much during that fight…" The boy looked up from Tremble triumphantly posing on Dash's unconscious form, and his mouth hit the grass at what he saw. Miles wasn't even looking at the battlefield, he was instead facing away and staring at the sky. "Uh, Miles?" Daniel called.

The boy in question looked over his shoulder, and pointed at the sky with a giant grin on his face. "There's a Drifloon colony up there!" he called as if everyone should be looking. Daniel blinked in disbelief.

"Um, we're in the middle of a battle here..?"

It was Miles' turn to blink before realization hit him like a charging Tauros. "OH RIGHT WHOOPS!" he shouted, turning on the spot and pointing with all his might. "Dash, use- oh." The blond's hand drooped, causing Daniel and Adrian to shake their heads.

"Dodrio is unable to battle!" Adrian announced with a sigh, lifting his arm in Daniel's direction. Tremble puffed out his chest as Dash was recalled. Fidget leapt off Daniel's shoulder and flapped around a bit, screeching happily before she settled on the boy's violet hair.

"Sorry…" Miles offered, partly to Dash and partly to Daniel.

"It's okay, just… Stay focused from now on?" Daniel ran a hand through his hair awkwardly, and Miles nodded.

"Got it! Now, go Donald!" With a large swing, Miles tossed a blue and white orb into the air, which split open with an image of a fishing net. The net deposited a squat, yellow duck onto the field, which looked around in confusion.

"Psy?" the Pokemon quacked, tilting its head and looking at Tremble.

Miles closed his eyes, and breathed deeply. His eyes snapped open as a determined smile spread across his face. Daniel had to step backwards in shock as the feeling he got from the boy changed. No, not changed… _Focused._ Fidget felt it too, and squeaked nervously. "Donald, let's go into Headache Mode!" The duck quacked, and suddenly its eyes began to glow an eerie white. The sparks that still danced around Tremble spiked for a moment, and similar sparks began to travel up and down Donald's form, this time a mystical pink. Daniel recognised the move as Psych Up and cursed as he realized that Donald just copied the Special boost Tremble had received from its Charging. The two were now on equal footing, Donald perhaps even more if it had performed Amnesia.

Not wanting to be caught off guard, Daniel called out, "Hit it with Charge Beam!" Tremble cried out, and blasted a beam of lightning at Donald. The bolt struck clean on Donald's forehead, but despite the smoke rising, Donald seemed as if the attack had done nothing.

Miles grin widened, and Daniel's heart dropped slightly. "Disable!" Donald pointed, and Tremble flinched as the move was wiped from his mind.

Running through moves Tremble might know in his mind, Daniel stammered, "Uh… N-Nuzzle!" The mouse nodded shakily, and darted towards the Psyduck in a zig-zagging motion. The squat creature merely watched with impassive, glowing eyes, awaiting its next instruction.

Miles also watched the mouse, and when it was close enough, he called, "Screech, then Zen Headbutt that Dedenne!" Something clicked in Daniel's head as he finally recalled the small Pokemon. Something tickled the back of his memory, but try as he might, he could only recall something beginning with 'P'.

As this ran through Daniel's head, Donald carried through his trainer's request, letting out an ear-piercing quack that caused a few spectators to clap their hands over their ears, and made Tremble freeze in place. The Duck Pokemon then dashed forwards, and as Tremble looked up, smashed its glowing forehead directly into Tremble, smacking him into the ground so hard the mouse bounced slightly.

Miles grinned widely as Tremble picked himself off the ground, and Daniel grimaced. If this continued, he'd only have Fidget up against Miles' crazy Psyduck and mysterious third Pokemon. He needed to come back from this, and fast. Fidget hopped back onto the boy's shoulder, and nudged him in an attempt to help however she could. The boy smiled at his companion, and suddenly, a memory flashed through his head. He had finally remembered what had been nagging him about Tremble. Allowing himself a small grin, he shouted, "Parabolic Charge!"

Tremble coughed, but smiled as well. With another loud cry, the mouse fired a stream of lightning from its body, which collided with the Psyduck in an explosion of smoke. Rather than dissipating immediately, the beam instead connected the two like the beam inside a plasma ball. Tremble stood up straighter as Donald stumbled a bit. Miles grit his teeth, his grin gone, and roared, "Disable!" Donald's eyes flashed, and Tremble flinched, the beam broken. "Finish it off with another Zen Headbutt!"

"Thunder Shock one last time!" Daniel called in response. Tremble readied himself as Donald charged closer, and as the Psyduck brought its head down to crash into it, the Dedenne unleashed every spark it had collected throughout the battle. There was an explosion of yellow smoke and dust, and Miles and Daniel had to shield their eyes from the force of the blast. Everyone watched with bated breath as the dust cleared, revealing the forms of the two Pokemon. Donald and Tremble were leaning on each other, forehead to forehead, and both were out cold.

Adrian raised both arms, and announced, "Both sides are unable to battle! Each side has one Pokemon left, so whoever wins this wins the battle!" Donald and Tremble were recalled, and Daniel smiled at the Pink Pokeball in his hand.

"Thanks for that, you did great," he whispered, before he carefully placed the ball to the side. Looking at his companion, he asked, "Are you ready?" Fidget playfully nipped him on the ear, and puffed her chest out. "I'll take that as a yes, then," Daniel laughed, looking back at where Miles was having a conversation with a Pokeball of his own. "It's all or nothing, Miles!"

Miles looked up, and smiled confidently. "May the best trainer win!" he called back. The boys shared a grin, and then shouted in unison.

"Let's go!"

Miles Wernicke courtesy of Legacy918


	8. Chapter 8 - Fidget vs Vix

With an explosion of red, Miles' final Pokemon appeared on the field, and Daniel could only use one word to describe it – _majestic_. Fur as gold as the morning sun shone gently as nine beautiful, amber-tipped tails waved softly in a breeze that didn't exist. A knowing smile sat below ruby eyes that seemed to twinkle with millennia long past. Announcing its arrival with a cry, the Ninetales stood to all fours, ready to battle.

Fidget seemed to take this as a challenge, and with a mighty screech the bat leapt off Daniel's shoulder, spiraling through the air until she was face-to-face with the Fox Pokemon. The two Pokemon locked eyes and sneered, Vix uttering a low growl and Fidget chittering in response.

Daniel made the first move, calling out, "Agility, then Wing Attack!" Fidget shrieked as she flew in a tight circle, warming up her wings and loosening some muscles. The Sound Wave Pokemon then shot at the Ninetales like a bullet, smacking her over the head with a glowing wing before Miles or Vix could react. This had the added effect of ruffling the Fox's glorious mane, infuriating it.

"Hit her with Will-O-Wisp!" Miles called in response. Vix's eyes changed from ruby to an eerie sapphire as a flame appeared on the tip of each tail. Vix barked at Fidget, and the nine flames shot out and hit Fidget one-by-one. Fidget seemed unhurt at first, but a single blue flame remained attached to her side, staying perfectly still despite the bat's constant flapping. Daniel made a noise of irritation when he saw this. The flame meant Fidget was burned, and if he was right… "Now, use Hex!" Miles ordered, confirming Daniel's fears. The Ninetales' eyes glowed again, this time a shadowy purple. The amber tips of her tails turned the same shade as her eyes and curled in on themselves. Small blobs of a shadowy energy drifted from the tails to an orb in the center, which grew until it was the size of a baseball.

Howling, the Ninetales fired the orb at Fidget, causing Daniel to cry out, "Get out of there!" The Noibat attempted to fly away, but the orb curved after it, and impacted with her body, sinking into it rather than dispersing. The blue flame suddenly exploded to twice its size, causing Fidget to shriek in pain and tumble to the ground. "No!" Daniel held his breath as Fidget hit the ground and waited for her to get up, only to breathe a sigh of relief when the Noibat took off again, albeit more shakily than before.

The bat turned her head to nod at Daniel, and he smiled gratefully. _Still…_ The boy thought, taking in the scene before him with a critical eye. _That burn is a problem. If I don't do something fast, Fidget's going to lose. It's a shame Ninetales doesn't have two heads…_ An idea flashed through Daniel's head, and he grinned to himself. _But that doesn't mean she can't hurt herself!_

"Supersonic!" Daniel called triumphantly. The Sound Wave Pokemon reared back her head, and then unleashed a horrible high-pitched whine from her speaker-like ears. The noise caused the Ninetales to stumble a bit, whining as her inner ears were disturbed. The once-graceful tails now wilted slightly, snapping erratically to and fro as the Fox Pokemon struggled to maintain her balance.

"Two can play at that game! Vix, use Confuse Ray!" Miles shouted. Attempting to comply, the golden Pokemon's eyes glowed slightly. The tails attempted to gather a multi-coloured energy between their tips, but the fox's eyes flickered, and the energy dissipated. Miles cried out in disbelief, and Daniel punched the air.

 _Just what I needed!_ He thought, before calling, "Now, use Tailwind, and then Air Cutter!" Flapping her wings as hard as she could, Fidget managed to whip up a strong wind behind her. The bat then flew at the Ninetales, her speed drastically boosted, and as she neared she curled her wings up to her body to spiral through the air. With an explosion of air, the bat spread its now glowing wings and spiraled over the fox, sending sharp gusts of wind directly into its face and back.

It was Miles' turn to grimace as he realized how quickly the tables had turned. "Don't give up!" he shouted to his partner. "Fire Spin!" Vix dashed after the far-quicker bat, and jumped into the air, curling into a wheel. Flames started to flicker over her body, but dissipated as the fox lost concentration, causing her to painfully slam into the ground.

Sensing his chance, Daniel cried, "Finish this with Wing Attack!"

"Hex, one more time! If you manage to get her, she's down!" Miles shouted in turn. Vix struggled to her feet, and shook herself. With a howl, nine ethereal flames formed on her tails and shot towards the Noibat. Fidget screeched, and rocketed towards the Ninetales with glowing wings.

Time seemed to slow down for the second time in two days as Fidget flew at the incoming flames. Daniel's heart beat in sync with Fidget's as the bat weaved in and out of all nine flames, narrowly managing to avoid each one. Time resumed its normal pace, and with a triumphant cry, Fidget struck the fox with both wings, knocking it back with such force it skidded along until it was at its trainer's feet. The Ninetales gave its trainer an apologetic look before it fainted, causing Adrian to lift his hand in the air and proclaim, "Ninetales is unable to battle! This battle goes to Daniel!"

Daniel cried out in joy as cheers erupted from the surrounding crowd, and his Pokemon did the same. Suddenly, the flame on Fidget flared up again, and the bat dropped out of the air. Daniel ran to his partner, and skidded to a kneel in front of her. "Are you okay?" he asked, picking her up and cradling her. Fidget managed to give Daniel a proud, if exhausted, squeak, before he succumbed to her burn and fell unconscious. The boy smiled gratefully, and returned the bat to her Pokeball. "You did fantastically, girl. Have a long rest."

Daniel looked up to see a despondent Miles recall Vix. The purple-haired boy got to his feet, and made his way over to Miles. "I lost…" Daniel's blond counterpart muttered.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Daniel said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Miles looked up, and grinned, all traces of sadness gone. "Okay!" Daniel blinked, and the boy grabbed Daniel's free hand and gushed, "Man, that was so fun, though! And so close! I can see why you're number one! I'm happy staying number three, but man, imagine if I beat you!"

"Nothing would have happened," Adrian said, causing both boys to look at him.

"What," They said in unison.

Smiling, the dark-haired boy explained, "You were in such a rush to challenge Daniel to fight you didn't actually officially challenge him on your Scroll. Even if you had won, Daniel would've stayed number one."

Miles blinked. "Huh." Shrugging, the boy continued, "Oh well. I had an amazing battle, and that's what mattered! Hey Daniel, what classes do you have next?"

Extricating his hand from Miles' grip, the boy checked his Scroll, and replied, "Uh… Advanced Pokemon Theory, Pokemon Battling, and Home Ec."

"Yesss! I have the same classes!" A loud grumbling noise interrupted the blond, making him look down and hold his stomach. "Wow, I'm hungry. See you guys later!" Without another word, the boy dashed off, waving back at a very confused Adrian and Daniel.

"He's certainly…" Adrian began.

"Energetic?"

"Interesting." The boys looked at each other, and shook their heads in disbelief. "Wanna get something to eat before we go back to class? I'm starving."

Daniel nodded, looking at Fidget's Pokeball. "Sure thing. I need to get her a treat anyway. She deserves it."

" _You have arrived at your destination_ ," Daniel's Scroll said in a soothing female voice as he came to a stop outside his classroom in the main building. Adrian's mastery of electronics and coding honestly scared Daniel. Not only had he added new features to Daniel's Scroll, such as an advanced map and access to a GPS system, but he had done it in under an hour whilst munching on a Miltank Burger without breaking a sweat. Daniel could only imagine the things he could do with an actual computer.

"Danieeeeeeellll!" The boy in question turned to see Miles barreling down the hallway towards him, arms out in a hug. Daniel quickly took a step back, and Miles careened past him into the wall, unable to control his momentum. "Ow… That was mean," he muttered.

Daniel laughed and shook his head. Whether it be the small Celestic Town school or Victory High Academy, the boy seemed to have a knack for making bizarre friends. "Whatever," he chuckled, helping his friend off the ground. "You ready for Pokemon Theory?"

Miles puffed out his chest. "Of course! I'm so ready for this, I've studied my brains out! Go on, quiz me on something!"

"Why does Fire resist Fairy?" Daniel shot with an evil grin as they walked inside.

The blond boy was silent for a moment as he thought, tilting his head and holding his chin in contemplation. Eventually, he slumped, and whined as he collapsed into a chair, "That's not faiiiiiiir… Anything but that!"

Daniel was about to attempt to stump Miles again until he saw someone with a stupid black haircut enter the room. Groaning, Daniel slumped at his desk to try and avoid Ian's gaze. Miles had a different idea, and instead stood up in his seat slightly and waved vigorously. Ian glanced over, and saw the two teenagers. His brown eyes met Daniel's green, making him freeze for a second. Finally, the boy huffed and looked away, sitting at a table by himself. Miles frowned, and his arm drooped. "What's up with Ian?" he murmured, slowly sitting back down.

"You know him?" Daniel asked, sitting up slightly.

Miles glanced at him. "Well, yeah. He's my roommate."

Shuddering, Daniel muttered, "How can you stand him? He's a jerk."

"Huh? Ian's not a jerk, he's really nice!"

Daniel blinked, trying to think of a 'nice' Ian. Yesterday's impression dominated his mind, and he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. He and his friends bullied Adrian and me yesterday."

"Was that why you battled?" Daniel nodded in confirmation. Miles pouted in thought, and muttered, "Weeeeeeeird…"

"Ahem!" Everyone in the classroom fell silent, and turned to look at a blue-haired man who now stood at the front of the classroom. Daniel squinted as he tried to remember the name belonging to this 'Blunet', as his brothers would have called him.

"Did he just say 'ahem'?" Miles whispered.

"Yup," Daniel confirmed, frowning.

The man, pleased he had gotten everyone's attention, began, "Good morning, everyone! My name is Mr Hillman, and I will be your Advanced Pokemon Theory teacher. Those of you doing Pokemon Battling, which is all of you, I am your teacher for that as well." The man paused, and sighed. "Does anyone mind if I just drop the whole formality thing? Strudel and the others like to speak formally, but I'm only, like, seven years older than you. It just feels weird…" The class was dead silent, and with a grin, the man continued, "I'll take that as a yes."

Clapping his hands, Mr Hillman went on, "So! My name's Mr Hillman, but I feel really old if you call me that. Call me Mr H or something, I don't mind too much. Anyway, I've had a look at your entrance scores, and most of you scored pretty well on the actual knowledge bit." At this, Daniel could've been imagining things, but he swore the man shot a look in the direction of him and Miles. "But I want to make double sure, and see what I need to work on most with you. SO!" The man grinned widely, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Pop quiz time!"

The entire class groaned and Mr H cackled, "Oh calm down, this doesn't go to your marks. After this, we can go on a run around the campus or something. It's either this, or we start this theory thing from the _verrrryy_ beginning. Now come and get your quizzes." Sighing, the entire class got up in chunks, walking to the front of the classroom to get their stacks of paper. Daniel and Miles looked at each other, identical looks of despair on their faces. This was going to be a _long_ lesson.

Three hours and two battles later, Daniel and Miles finally turned up to their last lesson of the day, Home Ec. Daniel had taken it as a 'relief' subject, considering it was the only other non-academic elective he was eligible to take. And after being challenged by two people in what was meant to be his breaks, he felt he deserved a break. "Being Number One is cool and all," he groaned to Miles as they walked to the Hospitality building, where Home Ec. was apparently held, "But having people challenge you all the time is annoying. I barely got enough time to heal in between classes…"

"It sucks for me too, you know," Miles countered, mock-pouting and crossing his arms. "No-one pays attention to Number Three! I haven't had a single challenge yet!"

"What are you, some kind of Blood- Miki!" Daniel cut himself off, and ran towards his black-haired friend, who turned and gasped in excitement.

"Daniel!" the girl cried, obviously happy to see him. "I didn't take you as a Home Ec. guy."

"Eh, it's a good rest from Theory and Battling," he replied, smiling.

"What's a Blood Miki?" Miles asked, catching up to Daniel. Noticing Daniel's friend, the blond's eyes widened. "Uh… H-hi…" he stammered.

"You must be Miles, right?" The girl asked, holding her hand out in a greeting. "Ian told me about you at break." The blue-eyed boy took her hand hesitantly, trying to think of a response.

"You're pretty," he eventually blurted out, surprising the other two teenagers. "Wait, sorry, I didn't mean to say that! I mean, you're pretty, but I didn't mean to say you're pretty. But you are pretty, it's just-" Miles facepalmed to shut himself up, and moaned, "I'm going inside now."

Both teenagers watched him walk inside their classroom, head cradled in his hands. "He's…" Miki began.

"Interesting?"

"Sweet." Miki smiled. "Not that it's the first time I've been called pretty." The girl flicked her hair back, and made a mock modelling pose. Daniel laughed as the two walked inside, taking a seat at some sort of kitchen bench next to Miles (with Daniel in between of course).

The teacher, a plump lady with a dopey smile and a Slurpuff, welcomed the class with soft tones and invited them to get to know each other and look up recipes for them to create on their next lesson. Miles hurriedly excused himself from the table to get a cookbook from a nearby shelf and to avoid embarrassing himself any further. "So, how's your day been so far? You were pretty down after Mr K's announcement this morning." Daniel groaned, and slumped low enough to smack his head on the bench, eliciting a small 'ow'. Miki giggled, "That bad, huh?"

"Mandatories sucked, we had a pop quiz in Advanced Theory, I got challenged to a battle every single break I had, and our teacher made us do an obstacle course in Battling-"

"Why are you doing exercise in _Pokemon_ Battling?" Miki interrupted.

Shrugging, Daniel grumbled, "Heck if I know. I did meet this really cool guy in English, though."

"Oh?"

"Yeah! His name's Tristan." Daniel sat up slightly, and began recounting the lesson to Miki, growing steadily more energetic as he did so. "… And he called me Danny when he left!" Daniel finished, a smile spread wide on his face. Remembering he was actually talking to someone, Daniel turned to see Miki looking at him with a sly grin. "…What?"

"Nothing," the girl replied. "You just seem to really like him, is all."

"I-I guess… I mean, he was super cool, and he was nice to me, and he laughed at my jokes and stuff, and-"

"Daniel?"

"Yes?"

"You're blushing." The violet-haired boy made a noise somewhat resembling 'meep', and clapped his hands to his cheeks to hide them.

"A-anyway…" Daniel struggled to change the subject, and Miki, taking mercy on him, spoke.

"You said you got challenged to some battles in your breaks?"

Smiling gratefully, Daniel replied, "Yeah… One of them was Miles." The boy nodded in the direction of the blond, who was currently buried in a small bookcase, seemingly trying to find the most colourful recipe book. "Adrian lended me one of his Pokemon for that battle, but I had to use just Fidget for the other two."

Miki frowned in confusion. "You only have one Pokemon?"

Daniel nodded reluctantly. "Yeah… Back home, I just used my brothers' Pokemon to practice battling, so I only ever had Fidget with me."

"That must suck against trainers with two or three Pokemon."

Miki's expression changed from one of sympathy to one of thoughtfulness, and it was Daniel 's turn to frown. "What is it?" he asked.

"Why don't you get another one?"

"Huh?"

"Another Pokemon! I mean, we are allowed in the city this weekend."

"What."

Miki looked puzzled, and elaborated, "The excursion? You know, the one they talked about on Orientation?"

"I wasn't here for Orientation."

A look of understanding crossed Miki's face. "Ah, that explains it. Well basically, every weekend, two years get to spend the day in Castelia City, swapping each day. Because we're new, we get Saturday, followed by the Sophomores on Sunday, and the Juniors and Seniors the weekend after that. One of my friends comes from Castelia, so I could get her to show us some good spots to catch Pokemon, if you like?"

Nodding gratefully, Daniel replied, "That sounds great, thanks." Glancing over at Miles, he added, "Perhaps one of us should help him? He's been holding that cake book upside down for a while now."

Miki chuckled. "I'll see if I can get a sentence out of him without him freaking out," she joked, getting up and walking over. Daniel pulled out Fidget's Pokeball and placed it in front of him, bending down so that his chin was on the bench, allowing him to look directly at the slightly worn Pokeball.

"What do you think, Fidget?" he asked the red and white orb. "Want another friend?" Looking up to where an amused Miki was watching Miles attempt to contain his word vomit and failing miserably, Daniel smiled, and finished, "We have a bunch already. One more can't hurt."

WOAH WHAT'S THIS AN UPDATE WHAT IS THIS WITCHCRAFT

Hey guys, it's me again! I'm so sorry for the loooooong wait, but school's on holidays for now, so with any luck I should be uploading regularly again!

Should be. School's still a thing unfortunately, so if my updating runs dry again then ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ but know I am trying my best!

Next chapter exciting stuff happens! Like, Castelia City exciting stuff! See you all then!

Miles Wernicke belongs to Legacy918


	9. Chapter 9 - Sewer Sojourn

The rest of the week was largely uneventful. The results for the pop quiz came back and Daniel and Miles had managed to scrape by with passes and a mystified look from their teacher. On the other hand, the Chocolate Cupcakes they decided to make turned out brilliantly despite Miki accidentally skipping instructions multiple times. Daniel found that Tristan was also in his other Mandatories, much to his delight, and managed to spend some of the breaks with him that weren't taken up by Pokemon battles.

Finally, it was Saturday. After an entire week of being challenged and having to either borrow a friend's Pokemon or only using Fidget, Daniel was looking forward to getting an addition to his team. Remembered the joy his older brothers had when they caught their other Pokemon, and he couldn't wait to get his own.

Stepping out of the bathroom fully clothed for once, Daniel noted Adrian sitting as his computer biting his thumb. "Oh hey," Daniel said, toweling his hair and checking that none of his purple had rubbed off on it, "You're awake."

"Yup," Adrian replied, typing in a swift keystroke without looking away from the screen. "A friend of mine wanted me to do something for her, so I thought I'd kill time while you were having your shower." Hitting a key triumphantly, Adrian looked up at Daniel and asked, "You ready?" The boy frowned, and looked Daniel up and down. "Obviously not."

"Huh?" Daniel looked down at his school polo and jeans, confused. "What do you mean?"

"It's a weekend, dude. You can wear casual clothes." Adrian rolled his swivel chair (which he somehow managed to convince a teacher to give him) away from his desk, and motioned at himself. The boy wore a simple black zip-up jacket with a faded pumpkin-esque Pokemon on the front, as well as black jeans and bright orange sneakers. "See?"

"Oh…" Daniel opened his cupboard, and pulled out a blue shirt with a Dragonair design. "This okay?"

Adrian shrugged. "I dunno. You're just gonna wear your jacket and scarf over it, anyway." He checked his watch, and added, "You better hurry, the first ferry leaves soon, and I don't want to miss it."

A quick clothing change later, and the boys were out of the dorms and on their ways to the docks, which was apparently a thing the school had. Fidget was comfortably resting on Daniel's shoulder as the two boys walked, snacking on an apple Daniel had 'borrowed' from the cafeteria. The boys had agreed it would be easier to get breakfast/lunch from in the city itself, rather than miss the first ferry. "So when is Miki meeting us?"

Adrian checked his watch, and shrugged. "I dunno. She said she was getting a later ferry, and she'd message us when she got to Castelia." Looking up, Adrian added, "We're here."

Daniel followed his gaze, and gave an impressed whistle. Before them was a decently-sized dock, with two large piers jutting out into the ocean, and several storage sheds for any cargo. A two-story ship with Wingulls on the sides sat at one of the piers, with a large number of students either waiting to the side or boarding the vessel. Two very bored looking teachers stood on either side of the boarding ramp, checking if each student that passed them was in the right year. Adrian and Daniel joined the line, and after a while showed their Scrolls to the teachers and boarded. They made their way to the front of the boat, where there was a large open space for students to watch the scenery from, and waited patiently for the ship to leave.

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long, as after a short while the ship lurched forwards, beginning its journey. The two boys watched as they pulled away from the island, the blue-green expanse around them growing as the smell of salt water filled the air. Fidget fluttered off Daniel's shoulder, and joined the group of flying Pokemon soaring above the boat, gliding in the morning breeze. Daniel watched her go with a smile, only to be surprised by a tap on the shoulder.

Daniel turned to see Mr H standing there. "Daniel, glad I found you," he said, smiling. "Could I talk to you for a moment?"

Daniel glanced at Adrian, who shrugged, before turning and replying, "Sure, I guess…" Mr H motioned for Daniel to follow him, and after shooting a look at Adrian, Daniel followed.

Mr H led Daniel through the semi-crowded boat to an empty room presumably near the engine, judging by the noise. Turning, Mr H said, "So, let's get down to it, shall we? I marked your pop quiz, and had a look at your work over the week, and I have to say, I'm not very impressed." Daniel gulped. This was the teachers back at Celestic Town all over again. Now he was going to be criticized, and told to work harder- "What's wrong?"

All Daniel could manage was a confused, "Huh?"

Mr H leaned against one of the walls, and continued, "You're a bright kid, obviously, otherwise you wouldn't be here. You have some of the highest marks in the class when it comes to battling theory. Everything else however…" Mr H shook his head, and began listing things out on his hand, "Your spelling is all over the place, you don't or can't answer a whole bunch of written questions, and you don't seem to recognize any Pokemon that aren't Dragon types. What's going on?"

Daniel looked down, and mumbled, "Nothing, I just… I don't pay attention, I'm lazy-"

"That's stupid and we both know it," Mr H interrupted, frowning. "You always pay attention in my classes, Daniel, and if your friendship with Miles has anything to say about it, you're far from lazy. What's really wrong?" Daniel braved a glance at Mr H, and saw his teacher looking very concerned. Sighing, he looked away and mumbled something under his breath. "What was that?" The blue-haired man asked.

Daniel grit his teeth, and speaking a little louder said, "I have dyslexia…"

Mr H blinked. "Dyslexia?" he repeated, confused.

"It's this condition where-"

"I know what Dyslexia is, Daniel. It's a disorder that means you have difficulties with reading, spelling and other stuff like that. It's just…" Mr H shrugged. "Your school should have made notes about it."

Daniel frowned, and growled, "They didn't believe it was a thing. My teachers said I was just lazy, or stupid, or didn't care."

Daniel looked back to Mr H, and saw that the man had a sympathetic frown on his face. "Thank you for talking to me, Daniel," he said, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder and smiling. "Now that I know what's going on, I can try to make things easier for you. Do any of your friends know you're dyslexic?" Daniel shook his head, and the teacher continued, "Maybe tell them soon. They'd appreciate it." There was a rumbling, and the two looked around as the ship seemed to slow. "Looks like we're here," Mr H mused. "Sorry for taking you away from your friend," he added, heading to the door. The man stopped, and spun. "Tell you what, I'll give you some special homework in exchange for some exams and pop quizzes. I want you to learn the names, typings, and preferably abilities at _least_ 400 Pokemon by the end of the semester. Think you can manage that?" Daniel blinked, but nodded. Mr H grinned, and finished, "Great. I'll let you get to your weekend now."

Mr H led Daniel off the boat, but the second Daniel stepped onto the dock, he froze. Ahead of him were the tallest buildings he had ever seen, each one trying to be taller than the other. He had seen the jungle of glass and steel before, but he had been travelling near Mach-speed and far too high to actually get a proper look. Now, standing at the base of the buildings, Daniel felt very small. He felt something land on his shoulder, and snapped out of his stupor as Fidget nuzzled in to his violet hair, nipping his ear lightly. "What did the teacher want to talk to you about?" Adrian asked, coming up beside Daniel.

Looking at his friend, Daniel lied, "Nothing…" Adrian frowned at him, so Daniel cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject, "Miki's not getting here for a while, right? Want to grab some breakfast?"

Adrian nodded, and the two set off, Daniel marveling at the city as they did so. Adrian was looking at a map on his scroll as they walked, reading off areas to Daniel. "So there's a mall over by the central plaza. Palm Mall or something? We can grab something to eat there. Or there's this niche café on Narrow Street where people play music, or-"

Whatever Adrian said next was drowned out by a sudden throbbing pain that rocked through Daniel's head, making him gasp. The boy stopped, and clutched his forehead, willing the feeling to go away. As the pain subsided, Daniel began to breathe again, unaware that he was holding his breath in the first place. Removing his head from his hands, Daniel looked around, frowning and breathing heavily. "..Aniel? Daniel!" Adrian shook his friend, and Daniel turned to look at him, still slightly confused. "What the heck just happened to you?" Adrian looked really confused, as did Fidget, who had fluttered over to Adrian's shoulder at Daniel's outburst.

Rather than answering, Daniel said, "This is going to sound really weird, but I need you to follow me."

Adrian frowned. "Why?"

"Just… Trust me, ok?" Adrian's frown deepened, but he nodded anyway. Daniel looked around, before setting off in the direction of the piers. Fidget took off from Adrian's shoulder, following the two as they went.

"Where are we going?" The brunet asked, looking around as they walked back where they came.

"I have no idea."

"What."

Daniel shrugged. "It's weird, but… It feels like the headache kinda came from this direction."

"And so you want to head towards the source of the headache that made you freak out?"

Daniel looked over his shoulder at his friend, raising an eyebrow. " _That's_ the part you have trouble believing?"

Adrian returned the look. "You have purple hair. Mystery headaches would only be a little weird for you."

"I dye it though… You've _seen_ the hair dye in the bathroom."

"My point still stands," Adrian chuckled. The boy looked around, and said, "I think we're at Thumb Pier." Daniel looked back, and realized he was right. The two boys were standing in the middle of a pier that seemed to be much shorter than the rest. Looking at the map Adrian pulled up, the boy muttered, "Huh… This city's shaped like a hand. That's weird." Daniel looked around, trying to sense, for lack of a better word, where his headache seemingly originated from.

"We're close, but I don't see anything…" he muttered.

Adrian zoomed in on his map, and showed it to Daniel. "There's a sewer entrance not too far away. Do you think maybe it could be from there?" Daniel nodded slowly, and Adrian put away his scroll, pulling out a Pokeball. "In that case, we may need some light. Let's go, Twitch!" With a flash of ruby light, Twitch appeared, darting in between the two boys with his impish grin. The orange Pokemon flew up to Fidget, and the two made their respective noises at each other. Adrian and Daniel looked at each other, and nodded, before heading to the entrance to the sewers.

The first thing that hit Daniel when he entered was the smell. It reminded him of the time when a Ratatta died in his school's primitive air vents, only nobody realized what happened until the smell started to overpower what few classes the school had. Daniel coughed as he wrapped his scarf around his nose and mouth, gratefully gulping down what salt air had been trapped in the woolen folds. Adrian shot him a confused look as he whispered something to Twitch, who proceeded to spin until he was shining like a lightbulb. "How are you not suffocating?" asked Daniel, voice muffled by his scarf. Fidget sneezed, seemingly agreeing with Daniel on the smell.

Adrian shrugged. "I've lived in a city for most of my life; I guess I'm used to bad smells. Anyway, we're in Autumn so apparently we don't need to worry about tides-" Adrian was cut off by a faint noise. Both boys heard it despite being so quiet. They looked at each other for a brief moment. "That sounds-"

"Like something's in trouble," Daniel finished. Without warning, the duo took off, running through the sewers as fast as they could using Twitch's light. "I will bet you anything that's what caused my headache."

"How can you be sure?"

Daniel was silent for a moment, leaving their footsteps, Twitch's whirring, and the steadily growing noises to fill the silence. "It's weird," he eventually began as turned a corner, leaping from a railing to the empty sewer floor, rolling to avoid hurting himself. Adrian took the stairs two at a time, struggling to catch up to Daniel. "I've always been able to sense things, like really strong emotions, or people's personalities. It's really weak and vague, but it's there."

"So for something to give you a headache..?"

"It has to be super strong." Both boys rounded another corner, and froze. They seemed to have found the source of Daniel's headache. In front of them, two men dressed in sailor's uniforms had cornered what looked to be a bright orange canine.

"-musta snuck in on the ship from Voibank!" said one of the men, a bald one who slurred his words slightly.

"Filthy mutt. Shoulda stayed in tha Complex!" Agreed the other man, taking a step towards the Pokemon. The Pokemon whined and shrank in on itself, trying to get away from the men.

Daniel bared his teeth, and looked around. Spotting a rock on the ground, he quickly picked it up and, with the precision and grace born of a Pokemon Trainer, threw it in a perfect arc to bean the bald man square on the back of his head. "Stay away from them!" he shouted, glad his voice didn't betray how nervous he was.

"Daniel," Adrian hissed, looking at him with a mix of fear and confusion. "What are you doing?!" Fidget and Twitch were also staring at him, as were the two men and the orange Pokemon.

"I have no clue," he whispered back, "But get ready to run." Daniel locked eyes with the small Pokemon by the men's feet, who them had seemingly forgotten about. Daniel nodded slightly, and the Pokemon scampered between the men's feet, dashing past them and the two boys.

"Just what do you think you're doin'?" The bald man snarled, rubbing his head.

"Yeah! That was moine to hoit!" his companion added.

"Ours to hoit…" the other one corrected. "And we weren't going to 'hoit' them, we was just gonna… Discipline that mangy mutt."

Daniel's eyebrow lifted, and before he could stop himself, he snarked, "'Discipline'? Glad to see you can use more than two syllables." Both men bristled at this comment, and Daniel curled his hand into a fist in irritation at himself. "Okay, now's a good time to run," he whispered to his shocked companion. Not needed to be told twice, Adrian took off, Daniel not far behind.

As the two men gave chase, shouting and cursing at them, Adrian shouted at his friend, "What were you _thinking_? How many death wishes do you have? _All of them?!_ "

"Less talking, more running," Daniel simply shouted back, leaping at a low wall next to a staircase. The boy grabbed the top of the wall and met the bricks with his outstretched foot, and pulled himself up with a large tug and a kick off from the wall. Popping his hips off the wall, the boy got a foot on top of the wall, and used that to kick himself up the wall and into a run.

Adrian, who had simply taken the stairs three at a time, shouted incredulously, "THERE WAS A STAIRCASE!"

"The wall was quicker," Daniel shot back, leading them around a corner. It was true, as Daniel was now a few steps in front of Adrian.

"THEY WERE _RIGHT THERE!_ " Without warning, Daniel pushed Adrian into a narrow side path, covering his mouth and hiding them behind a pipe. Fidget and Twitch darted in behind them, and Fidget covered Twitch's light with her wings, huddling up against the wall. The two sat in silence, hearts pounding, as they waited. After a moment, the two men ran past, swearing but thankfully missing the teenagers. The pair stood there in silence for a good few minutes before Daniel stepped away from the wall. "The hand really wasn't necessary, you know," Adrian muttered, brushing something off his shirt. "Also where did you learn to hide like that? Ninja school?"

Daniel shrugged as Fidget fluttered to his shoulder, peeking out of their hiding place to check the two men had really gone. "My brothers and I played hide and seek all the time in the caves near our village."

"Where the Garchomps are?" Adrian asked, following Daniel as they set off in search of the entrance.

"We took it very seriously." The two boys walked in silence for a bit, keeping alert in case the men found them again. "I really hope that Pokemon's ok," Daniel said.

"The Growlithe? It should be fine."

"Hopefully."

Silence.

"Hey Adrian?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know where we are?"

"… I was following you."

More silence.

"Shit."


	10. Chapter 10 - A New Friend

"Okay, next time you decide to follow the Crobat Signal," Adrian muttered to his friend, finally stepping out of the gloom of the Sewers into the late-morning sunshine, "Try following it to somewhere I can get a GPS signal."

"No promises," Daniel chuckled, greedily filling his lungs with the sea air. "Also, can you not tell anyone? Y'know, about the whole sense-y thing?"

Adrian smiled at his friend as he stretched in the sunlight. "Sure thing, man. Your secret's safe with me." With a sigh, the boys looked out at the bay, before wrinkling their noses and lifting the bases of their shirts to their faces.

The two boys walked up from the Sewer entrance, hesitantly sniffing their clothes and deciding that they hadn't been there long enough to be saturated with too much of the smell. After a while, Daniel asked, "Crobat Signal?"

The dark-haired boy looked at his friend, and replied, "Crobat Signal. You know, from Crobat Man? The series Riolu Girl's a spinoff from?"

Daniel blinked. "Cro… Bat… Man..?" he repeated slowly, not sure if he was getting it correct. An image of some horribly disfigured Noibat-like man sprung to the forefront of his mind, and he frowned. "Why would anyone want to see something like that?"

Adrian stopped and stared at Daniel, eyes wide in shock. "You mean you've never seen Crobat Man?!" he shouted moreso than asked. Daniel shook his head, and Adrian's jaw dropped.

"Daniel! Adrian!" The two boys turned at their names to see Miki, dressed in some sort of black and white dress and coat, with Pokemon stockings going up over her knees and a cute Pokeball bag by her side. Next to her was a girl with short white hair, a shirt with a black-and-white Pokemon emblazoned on it, and some tattered jeans. "We've been looking for you two!" Miki added as she got closer. "This is my friend, Reyna-"

"Daniel's never seen Crobat Man!" Adrian interrupted. Both girls stared at Daniel in shock.

"What?!" they shouted in unison, looking at each other, and then back at Daniel.

"Oh you poor child," Reyna said, bumping between him and Adrian and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"This boy needs a pop culture infusion, stat," Miki added, mirroring Reyna.

"To Palm Mall!" both girls shouted in sync, walking forward and pulling Daniel with them. Daniel began to protest, but Adrian got behind the boy and began to push.

"I haven't had breakfast!" Daniel argued, trying to resist.

"Popcorn is a balanced breakfast," Miki told him, stepping up her pace. "When's the next showing of Crobat Man?"

"I don't have any money for movies!"

"Adrian will pay for you!" Reyna continued, matching Miki's strides. "They show movies every half hour. If we're lucky, we'll make it in time for the 11:30 screening."

"But I don't want Adrian to-"

"Too bad, Daniel!" Adrian finished. "It's for a good cause! If we want good seats, we'll have to get there quickly. Let's movie it people!"

The group sat at a table in the Palm Food Court, with all three of Daniel's friends looking at him expectantly. The boy hesitantly took a bite of his 'Basculin Deluxe', chewing it slowly before swallowing. "Sooooo..?" Miki and Adrian asked, fidgeting in their seats.

"It's good, I guess?" Daniel replied.

"You guess?" Reyna asked, her tone dripping with danger.

"I-I mean, it's good!" the boy corrected. Reyna smiled as if to say 'good choice', and sat back in her seat.

"Good. Because if you didn't like McClay's, then I'm afraid I'd have to do something drastic," the girl said smugly. "It's a good thing you liked Crobat Man, too."

Daniel lifted his scarf slightly, and muttered into it, "The plot was kinda thin." Reyna shot him a look, her amber eyes seemingly flashing red for a moment. Daniel shrunk into his scarf as Miki laid a calming hand on Reyna's shoulder.

"Reyna's all talk, Daniel. She's really nothing more than a cuddly little Pancham," the girl said, squeezing Reyna's cheeks.

Reyna hissed obscenities at her friend and the two boys laughed. Once they had calmed down, Reyna asked, "So how come you'd never seen Crobat Man before?"

Daniel shrugged, and explained, "I grew up in a village where there's basically no electronics other than the necessities – plumbing, hot water, and whatnot. My dad had to get a generator for his laptop. If haven't seen many movies because the nearest cinema is in Eterna city, and there happens to be a mountain in the way there. My parents were in a documentary, if that counts?"

"What documentary?" Miki asked, leaning in closer.

"Um… _The Proof of Gods_ , I think? Dad hosted a bit of it, and mum was one of the big interviewees. She's a researcher on Legendary Pokemon and Dragon-types. I think it's the reason all of my brothers got a Dragon-type for their first Pokemon."

"Wait, seriously? All of them?" Adrian asked. "Don't you have like, five brothers?"

"Six," Daniel corrected, "And yeah, all of them. From oldest to youngest, I think it is… Gabite, Trapinch, Bagon, Goomy, two Dratinis, and Fidget." Daniel nodded at Fidget's Pokeball, where she had to be returned for the movie. "Mom's work and Dad's family mean they have really good relations with a lot of Dragon-y people, which is why they are able to get them for us." The group continued to talk for a while, chatting about this and that, until they all spotted someone none of them liked.

Becky walked past, dressed head to toe in a disgustingly pink combo, her minions dressed to compliment her. The group fell silent as the girls strutted past, shopping dangling from their manicured hands. "Did you guys, like, hear the news?" One of Becky's followers asked in an annoyingly grating voice. "The Mysterious Sisters, like, posted a free album this morning! It's on their website!"

The girl's comment was followed by a chorus of 'No way!' and 'Really?'. Daniel leaned in to his friends, and whispered, "Who're the Mysterious Sisters?"

Unfortunately, Daniel did not whisper quietly enough and every head in Becky's entourage swiveled in unison to look at the group. "How do you not know about the Mysterious Sisters?" Becky demanded as she turned and placed her hands on her hips. Becky looked Daniel up and down, and sneered, "Oh wait. You're the boy who lives in that quaint little village in Sinnoh. It's a wonder you can even read, let alone know anything about music. Oh that's right, you _can't_." Becky's entire group sniggered as Daniel's face burned in shame.

Adrian clenched his hand into a fist, and growled, "The same boy who kicked your ass."

Becky didn't hear him, and continued, "You know, I'm really not surprised you're illiterate. People from low income families in… Less than privileged areas tend to have really low intelligences. Really, you're lucky you know Noibats from Zubats, what with _your_ hick family." Becky slowly walked towards Daniel, staring him deep in his emerald eyes with her piercing blue ones as her group looked down their noses at him. With her sneer turning into an evil grin, she continued, "Do you know what I heard? I heard a teacher saying you _failed_ your entrance exam. I can only imagine it was inclusiveness, or maybe even sadness that moved our dear old principle's heart to accept you." The girl put both hands over her heart and with a mock smile laced with false sincerity, finished, "It must be nice, being the Principle's pet pity project."

Adrian stood up forcefully, knocking his chair backwards, and roared, "Say that again, Becky! _I dare you_." Becky looked shocked by Adrian's outburst, and began to step back uncertainly as the boy stalked towards her. "What is your _problem?!_ You have known us for a week, and already you're trying to make enemies of us. Well guess what, Becky?! You've succeeded." At this, Adrian was face to face with the blonde, having backed her up against a table and driven away her posse. Jabbing a finger back to where Daniel sat in a mix of mortification and confusion, the brunet hissed, "That boy has more bravery, sincerity, and just straight up _kindness_ than you have in your whole body. How the hell you manage to get friends with that sort of toxic personality is beyond me, but then I guess they're not actually your friends."

Becky managed to find her voice, and trying to sound in control, stammered, "W-well, what do you w-want to do about it?"

Adrian stopped to think. "There's a spotlight match held between two houses each week. You're in Virizion, right? Cobalion vs. Virizion is next Saturday, so fight me then. The victor gets bragging rights, and if I win, you have to apologise to Daniel, and admit what you said was wrong. Got it?" Becky seemed to be about to argue, but Adrian pressed, " _Got it?_ " The girl swallowed her words, and nodded. "Good. Now get out of my sight before I report you to a teacher."

With much clacking of heels, the girls fled, and Adrian walked back to the table, where Daniel, Miki, and Reyna were staring at him in awe. "… What?" he asked, sitting down.

"That was…" Miki began.

Reyna finished, "Incredible…"

Adrian shrugged. "She insulted my friend, and I wasn't going to let that go unchallenged. Daniel's not dumb, and we know that, so she can just deal with it." His brow darkened, and he grumbled, "She should have apologized then, but we both knew _that_ wasn't going to happen."

Reyna and Miki agreed, and Daniel didn't know what to say. "Th-thank you," he eventually stuttered. "That means… so much to me."

The brunet boy blushed slightly, and cleared his throat. "I-It's nothing. N-now then, Reyna, weren't you going to take us somewhere we can find Pokemon?"

Reyna nodded, and launched into all of the nearby places where Pokemon could be found. As Daniel listened, his day suddenly caught up to him, and he sighed. "Actually," he interrupted, "Can we go home? I'm really tired…"

Miki looked at him with concern. "Are you sure?" she asked. Daniel nodded, and the girl smiled sympathetically. "Okay then. If we leave now, we might be able to catch a ferry back." Daniel nodded gratefully, and the group stood up from their table and left.

As it happened, the group managed to make it in time for the ship back. As they waited for the nearly empty ship to leave, Daniel apologized to no-one in particular, "Sorry we didn't get to do much today, other than see a movie."

Shaking his head, Adrian replied, "That's okay man. At least we got to educate you in Crobat Man. I'm just sorry you didn't get a new Pokemon." Daniel nodded in agreement, and with a mighty hum, the ship turned on.

Barking from the shoreline caused all four heads to swivel curiously. Daniel and Adrian's eyes widened as they saw a small orange blur tear around the corner, running down the pier in a fit of barking. "Is that..?" Adrian began in amazement. "No… How did it know where we are? How can it recognize us?"

The answer to that question seemed to be 'easily', because as the Growlithe saw the ship pulling away from the dock, it picked up its speed. The small dog leapt onto a bench, and then used a bin as a springboard to begin running along the railing, knocking the bin over. The pier ended, and with a mighty leap, the Growlithe jumped for the ship…

… And missed. The Growlithe splashed into the churning water, making all four teenagers on the deck cry out in alarm. Without thinking, Daniel took of his jacket and tore Fidget's Pokeball and the spares he carried off his belt before vaulting over the ship's railing and leaping into the water. Miki ran to get someone as Daniel swam to the dog with powerful strokes. Reaching the orange Pokemon, Daniel wrapped an arm around it to keep it above water, and began to tread water. A life ring splashed into the water near Daniel and the boy grabbed it, allowing himself to be dragged to the now-still boat. After a moment, he was lifted out by a surprisingly strong force, and deposited on the deck, dripping wet.

"What the heck were you thinking?" Reyna shouted at him, throwing a towel over him as she recalled whatever Pokemon she had used to lift Daniel out. "Why did you jump in the water?"

Daniel looked at the drenched Growlithe, who was staring at him as if neither of them were recently in Castelia Bay. "I wasn't, I guess. This guy needed help, though."

"Clearly, you don't realise that most Pokemon can SWIM!" Reyna huffed, and muttered something about boys being stupid. Daniel was too preoccupied looking at the Pokemon that sat staring at him.

"Is that the same one you rescued in the Sewers?" Adrian asked, ignoring Reyna. Daniel nodded, and the boy continued, "But how, or better yet, why did it find you again?"

"Maybe it saw us on our way back, and wanted to thank us? I mean, we _did_ save it," Daniel replied. The dog sneezed, and in a burst of heat evaporated all the water that still clung to its fur. With a happy bark, the dog leapt on Daniel and began licking his face with an extraordinarily warm tongue, causing the purplet to laugh. Satisfied, the dog got off Daniel, and trotted over to where his jacket and Fidget's Pokeball lay. The Growlithe placed his paw on Fidget's Pokeball, and turned back to Daniel with an expectant look on his face.

Adrian frowned. "Wait a second, is he..?"

Daniel stood up and walked over to the Pokemon. Kneeling before the Pokemon, Daniel asked, "Do you… Want to join me?" The Growlithe nodded, and nudged one of the empty balls forward with his nose. Daniel picked it up, and held it towards the Pokemon. The Growlithe pressed the button with a paw, and in a burst of red light, the Pokeball opened and swallowed up the creature. The red and white orb rocked in Daniel's hand, before stopping with a click. Unable to contain the grin on his face, Daniel whispered, "Welcome to the team, buddy."


End file.
